


Hidden Romance

by Vegorott



Series: Undercover Love [2]
Category: jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Hitman AU, M/M, Sequel, and poor babs are confused, more added as story goes on, similair tags to previous story, the gang is back, they're disaster gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 28,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21911008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vegorott/pseuds/Vegorott
Summary: After discovering the treason of Alice, Mare, Phantom, Mad and Blank are now living in the Septiceye's House with the Ipliers and everything is not okay from the overly-crowded house as everyone tries to figure out their emotions and their lives are made difficult by Alice's clones and her ink army
Relationships: Bingle, Danti, Trickshot - Relationship, bimdere, dapperstache, doctor lovin, schneeplier
Series: Undercover Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1446823
Comments: 94
Kudos: 169





	1. Crowded

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are!   
> Finally the sequel to Undercover Love!

After endless hours of tossing and turning, brain going at a million miles an hour with plan after plan that all ended with chaos. With death. After all of the questioning and wishing he had been smarter, that he had been better. He was finally asleep. 

It was only a few more hours until he felt something touch his nose, it wasn’t enough to fully wake him, but it made him make a face and sniff. There was a short pause before something touched his nose again, this time getting him to groan. After fighting the urge to just go back to sleep, he opened his eyes and was greeted with purple. 

“Hi.” Robbie greeted and Mare jumped in shock, now fully awake and feeling his heart race. “He’s up!” Robbie called and walked away from the couch, leaving Mare to plop back down and rub at his eyes. 

“Did you wake him?” Chase asked, walking into the living room, holding two plates. 

“Kind of.” Robbie giggled. “His nose was twitching like a bunny.” 

“I am not a bunny,” Mare grumbled, sitting up and surrendering to consciousness. 

“We were trying to let you sleep in but Robbie got away from us,” Chase said as an apology, ushering Robbie to go back into the kitchen. “I’m guessing you didn’t get much sleep either?” 

“How am I supposed to sleep? Alice is out there, I don’t have a home and this place is filled to the brim with loud, obnoxious men.” Mare rubbed at his face. “Yandere is the only sane one here.” 

“Marvin would disagree.” Chase chuckled. 

“Yandere doesn’t leave her underwear everywhere,” Mare grumbled, tossing the blanket across the couch. 

“She spends too much money on them to risk getting them damaged.” Chase sat himself down on a chair. 

“She’d just stab someone if they did,” Dark added, leaning against the entrance to the room and showing he had been there for a good minute. He glanced over his shoulder and moved so that Blank could squeeze past him. 

“Morning.” Mare greeted, smiling a little as Blank sat down next to him. “Did you sleep well?” 

“No,” Blank answered honestly, his slumped shoulders adding to his answer. 

“Is it cause of Alice?”

“Yeah.” 

“We’re giving Jackie some time to heal before going after her,” Chase said. “Plus some of us need bruises to heal as well.” He added with a rub at his stomach. 

“That was a pretty solid hit,” Mare said. “Glad he’s on our side.” 

“He was holding back, I’d be dead if he didn’t,” Chase said. 

“Now I’m really glad he’s on our side.” 

“It’s going to take literal hours to make enough food for everyone,” Marvin complained as he came into the room, a mug of coffee in his hand. “I hope none of you hates bagels.” He said with a sigh, handing Chase the mug.

“We could help cook since we’re using your house and all.” Mare offered. 

“If you do, you need to know a few things,” Chase said.

“Please, allow me.” Dark had a grin before he cleared his throat. “ If you plan on doing meat it has to be raw for Robbie, rare for Jackie, and JJ, medium for Chase and Marvin and practically charred for Anti. Henrik isn’t the biggest fan of beef, so you’ll have to make something chicken or pork for him. Robbie doesn’t like his vegetables so you’ll have to hide them in cheese, but Jackie is lactose intolerant so either you’d have to use vegan cheese or make two vegetable sides, but they’d have to be the same or Robbie will feel left out. JJ has a nut allergy, so no peanut products can be used with anything JJ eats, everything is labeled that either has lactose or peanuts in it.” Dark had to bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing at Mare’s face. “And that’s just the Septiceyes, for the Iplier’s; Yandere is a vegetarian, Bing needs everything extra salty, Host has a texture problem so it has to be crispy or dry, Bim likes very rare meat and Dr. Iplier is allergic to cranberries.” There was a pause. “Did you get that?” 

“I think bagels sound good.” Mare nervously laughed. 

“I got it, we’re good,” Mad said with a wave of his hand, everyone looking at him since they were unaware of his presence. Dark did not like that he didn’t notice as well and took a mental note to figure out how Mad was able to do that. “Blank, want to help make the eggs?” 

“Yeah!” Blank jumped up and rushed into the kitchen. 

“Do you want me to repeat the long-ass phrase or am I good to go?” Mad asked Dark. 

“Go ahead, knock yourself out,” Marvin said, preventing Dark from answering. 

“If Phantom gets up, send him back to bed,” Mare said as he got up himself and went towards the kitchen. “I don’t need him and Mad arguing while we’re trying to cook.” He added before getting out of the room.

“How long are they going to be here?” Dark asked. 

“Probably until we take care of Alice, they need as much protection as possible,” Chase said.

“Why are we protecting them? After everything they’ve done?” Dark scoffed. “They can take care of themselves.”

“They’re like us, Dark. They’re a lot like us.” Marvin said. “And if  _ I _ think that they can stay, then they can stay.” 

“Just admit you don’t like Mad,” Chase said with a chuckle. “He gives off a vibe that contradicts yours.” 

“I don’t know what you mean.” Dark crossed his arms. 

“He’s all about emotions and you can barely accept you have them unless it involves our son, kind of.” Chase clicked his tongue. “And speaking of the devil.” 

“Virus, not devil, that’s Dark.” Anti giggled as he came into the room. “Everyone else is slowly getting up, what’s the plan for food?” 

“Mad’s cooking,” Marvin answered. “And your boyfriend doesn’t like him.” 

“I mean, opposite vibes.” Anti shrugged and Chase just gave Dark a look while gesturing towards Anti. 

“I’m going house hunting for them.” Dark huffed. 


	2. In The Air

Mad enjoyed the quiet in the kitchen as he washed the dishes, having convinced everyone that he was fine to do them on his own. There were too many noises and variations of emotions with all of them together and Mad just needed to focus on something mundane. It’s easy to control his powers when it was just a few people at a time, this was just insane. There was a wave of sorrow and Mad knew who had just entered the room.

“Is there any leftovers?” 

“There’s a plate in the microwave,” Mad answered. He heard footsteps, the beep of the microwave and it shutting.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Mad could feel a burning in his chest and face when he turned his head and saw that Jackie was only in a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants, hanging dangerously low on his hips. 

“Are you able to go in here again?” Jackie pointed at his head. “Just to like, give me a check-up?” 

“A check-up?” Mad went back to staring at the dishes. He knew these emotions, embarrassment, attraction, and arousal. Why was he feeling these right now? Where did this come from? Was going into Jackie’s head affecting him more than he thought. He suspected something afterward when he seemed to get that weird light-headedness you get with a crush around Jackie, but this was a little much. It’s also hard to tell what he was feeling was his or leftovers from the others.

“I can still feel that...goop inside of me. She’s still there.” Jackie shoved a mouthful of egg into his mouth. 

“I can see what’s happening. I’m not going to do anything without telling you or at least the others. I don’t think getting kicked out is on our list of things to do.” Mad started stacking plates. “It’s also only been a day since I pulled you out, you’re going to feel funky.” 

“Mad.” Mad almost dropped the plates when Jackie was suddenly standing right next to him. “I need to get out of this funk as soon as possible. You saw what I’m like, didn’t you? How my emotions are connected to my powers?”

“Yeah.” Mad could practically taste the leftover arousal Wilford and JJ had left in the air when they joined everyone for breakfast. That’s what was happening to him. That’s causing the twisting in his stomach as he fought to not look at Jackie’s body. He needed to focus on something else. What else was here to work with? 

“After I eat, can you go in there, please?” Jackie asked.

“Sure.” Mad patted the stack of plates. “I have no idea where the dishes go, Robbie gathered them for us.” 

“I can take care of it. Thank you.” Jackie placed a hand on Mad’s shoulder. 

“I gotta pee.” Mad squeaked out and slipped away, internally cursing at himself and ready to start snipping parts. 

“What’s with him?” Anti asked as he watched Mad scramble away into the hallway. 

“You’re all chaotic asses and it fucks with his head,” Phantom said from the spot on the floor he sat on. 

“It’s complicated,” Mare added.

“We get complicated.” Chase chuckled. 

“And it’s about to get worse,” Edward said, motioning towards Host who was making a face the Ipliers knew all too well. Host went stiff and his voice came out soft and flat. 

“A shattered heart crushed to dust will choke the heart of another.” 

“What the fuck was that?” Phantom asked when Host stopped and slumped over a little, resting his head on Edward’s shoulder while Henrik looked at his bandage, seeing that some blood was seeping through but not enough to cause alarm. 

“I bet everything I have that the first part has to be about Jackie,” Anti said. 

“Then who’s the other?” Wilford asked.

“Alice.” Dark and Mare said together. Dark scrunched up his nose and Mare just huffed. 

“Are we sure about that?” Marvin chewed on his lip. “‘A shattered heart crushed to dust’, meaning that the heart is already broken. If it’s about Jackie, then it’s not about Alice. It’s already been done.” 

“This bitch can see the future?” Phantom pointed at Host. 

“It’s complicated,” Dark said. “Is there anything else you’re able to tell us about it, Host?” 

“That is all Host is able to get without pushing..” Host answered, allowing himself to be lifted to his feet by Edward and Henrik. “He was barely ready for it on its own.” 

“We’re going to change his bandage,” Edward said as he, Henrik and Host left the room. 

“If the other person isn’t Alice, then who could it be?” Wilford asked. 

“What if the first person isn’t Jackie?” Chase said. “He’s not the only one here who’s had a broken heart, he’s just the most recent. I’ve had one due to my ex-wife and what happened to my children, Anti with his exes-”

“When we thought you had died from the bomb,” Marvin added softly, taking Chase’s hand in his own. “It could be any of us.” 

“We’ll have to deal with that when it comes, right now we have a different problem,” Google said as he and Bing were both looking at the laptop in Google’s lap. 

“What else is going wrong?” Dark asked with a sigh. 

“We’re running out of funds,” Google stated. 

“We got enough to pay our informers this month and that’s it,” Bing added. “We need to take a job soon.” 

“That means we’re probably running low as well,” Chase said. “Mind checking that for us, Anti?”

“One step ahead of ya.” Anti was at the control panel, typing away. 

“I can get us a hit pretty fast,” Google stated. “There’s always someone out there that wants someone else dead.” 

“We should do a few lowkey ones, we don’t have time or the energy to deal with politics,” Bing suggested. “I can try to get some hacking jobs for me and Google to do as well.” 

“Can you two work with Anti on getting jobs? I don’t want us to both trying to get the same hit.” Chase said. 

“Go ahead,” Dark said when Google and Bing looked at him for confirmation. 

“Looks like we’re back to work.” Chase chuckled. 

“For now,” Dark mumbled. 


	3. Get Ready

“I’m not letting any of you go out on a mission alone,” Chase stated as he started getting the control panel’s settings ready for multi-function. 

“Anti’s hacking, Robbie doesn’t do hits, Jackie’s healing and you’re here.” Marvin listed off the names with his fingers. “We’ll get twice as much done and me and JJ go alone. We can handle it.” 

“I’m not risking anything after everything that’s happened,” Chase said. “We’ll be fine if you two do one mission together instead of two separate.” 

“We can help.” Mare offered. “Myself, Phantom, and Mad can assist so they won’t be alone in their missions and more than one can be done.” 

“Do I have to?” Phantom asked with a groan, laying out on the couch he took over when the others stood to get ready. 

“We are guests in their home, the least we can do is offer support,” Mare stated. 

“I’m gonna veto on that,” Wilford said, wrapping his arms around JJ who just rolled his eyes. “I don’t trust any of you to be alone with JJ.” Wilford looked directly at Mad when he said that. 

“Did you do the ‘kiss the partner to piss them off’ thing?” Phantom asked, not even lifting his head. “I mean, the Septiceyes are kind of cute.” He turned his head this time to wink at Henrik, laughing when Edward stepped between them, a glare on his face. “You guys have nothing to worry about, that’s not on mine or Mad’s agendas. Those things take time and effort.” 

“Dark used to think the same way and look at where he is,” Wilford said, turning, a now laughing, JJ away from everyone. 

“Emotions are a lot more complicated than people would assume,” Dark said, trying to hold back a smile as Anti hugged his arm. 

“Mad is the definition of emotional comprehension,” Phantom said.

“I’m shocked you’re able to pronounce that word,” Mad said with a grin.

“I’m trying to compliment you and you’re being a dick.” Phantom rolled off of the couch. “Take me on a mission, I wanna hit something now.” 

“If it helps, Wilford. I’m staying behind to work with Jackie.” Mad said. 

“Work on what?” Chase asked. 

“A check-up.” Mad poked his head as he spoke. “I’m not doing anything, he just wants me to look and see what’s up.” 

“Have Henrik and Edward nearby,” Chase said. “If Jackie trusts you then so do I.” 

“Is that the best idea?” Dark asked. “We saw what happened the last time he-” Dark cursed in pain when Anti shocked his arm. 

“Don’t be an ass,” Anti said softly between his teeth. 

“He’s right.” Jackie came into the room. “But Mad’s been in there before and helped, I don’t think he’d go back on us now. I think he’s good.” Mad could feel a pleasant pressure in his chest from the compliment and he had to cough to get it to go away. The others ignored it but Mare raised a brow, a knowing look on his face. 

“I’ll go with Mare. It sounds fun.” Marvin said, giving Mare a smirk. 

“I think dad has something planned,” Anti whispered to Dark, who nodded in agreement. 

_ “I’ll be fine with Phantom if I can’t be alone _ ,” JJ said. “ _ I’ll just grab him by the ear if he misbehaves _ .” He added with a silent giggle. 

“Don’t let him do that, it actually really hurts,” Mad warned Phantom.

“I’m not weak like you, I can handle a-ow!” Phantom screamed out in pain when JJ grabbed his ear as an example. “Let go!” 

“He’s got strong hands.” Wilford laughed as JJ finally released Phantom and the man pouted with his hand over his ear. 

“Are we all set?” Chase asked. “JJ and Phantom will take the Lenard’s hit, Marvin and Mare will do the Paula’s. Anti’s hacking and he will stop when you get back.” 

“I can easily work all night.” Anti protested. 

“I know, that’s why I’m giving you a time limit. You need to sleep just like the rest of us.” Chase said. 

“But-”

“Don’t argue with your mother.” Chase wagged a finger at Anti. 

“Yandere and Bim have the socialite hit and Wilford has the Mason’s. Keep your earpiece in, Wilford or I will send you back here myself.” Dark said. 

“I’ll be back before ol’ Bingo gets one firewall down.” Wilford chuckled. 

“Considering Bing’s fluency in his work, I find that highly improbable,” Google stated. 

“I love it when you compliment me.” Bing giggled, pressing a quick kiss to Google’s cheek. 

“Could you do that when I’m not in the room.” Mad rubbed at his face. He did not need affection in the air right before working on Jackie. 

“Told you, we don’t do that stuff,” Phantom said.

“Let’s get going.” Yandere said. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can take more and go shopping afterward. I need to get my hair redone.” Yandere ran a hand through her bright red hair. 

“I keep forgetting the red hair is dyed,” Anti said. 

“And we’re off!” Wilford gave JJ a kiss before clapping his hands and half of the people in the room vanished in a cloud of pink smoke. 

“I’m going to neuter him, I swear.” Mad grumbled to himself as he waved a hand in the air as if he could swat away Wilford’s affection for JJ. 

“We should check our stocks,” Henrik said to Edward. “It is very unlikely that any of them will get hurt, but it is better safe than sorry.” 

“Host, don’t do anything stupid, please,” Edward said to Host. 

“Host is offended by Edward’s assumption and accusation.” Host said. 

“I know how you get after a prophecy. Don’t push it.” Edward had Host sit on the couch before he and Henrik left. 

“Bim and Yandere, report,” Dark said into his earpiece, nodding when he got a response. “Wilford, report.” Dark made a face, showing Wilford responded as well. 

“Marvin, you good?” Chase smiled at Marvin’s response. “JJ, you good?” Chase waited to hear two soft snaps. 

“Let’s work on this one together first and then work on the separate ones,” Google said to Bing as the two sat together on the other couch, each with laptops. Anti took his laptop out and sat on the ground next to Chase and the control panel, his usual work spot that wasn’t his room. Robbie gathered some coloring supplies and joined Anti, Blank following since he wasn’t sure what else to do. Robbie shared some crayons and the two were soon drawing together. 

“Are you ready to go in?” Jackie asked Mad. 

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Mad said after a swallow. “Where do you want to do it?” 

“We can go to my room.” Jackie offered.

“Cool.” Mad’s voice squeaked and he quickly cleared his throat. Jackie didn’t even notice and he started walking. Mad internally scolded himself and tried to shut off everything around him as he followed Jackie. 

Host got comfortable and rested his head back, following Edward’s instructions which was a rarity for him. It wasn’t long till all that was happening in the room was Dark and Chase giving directions as well, helping the others with their missions and all going well. There was a sudden slap of the beyond, hitting Host right in the eyes and forcing him to sit up. He couldn’t say anything about it, he was unable to speak, but he knew something bad was soon to happen and he couldn’t get anything from it except for blackness and a sudden urge to spit up something thick and gooey in the back of his throat. 


	4. The First Drop

“I don’t need to do anything but lay down, right?” Jackie asked as he crawled on his bed, moving down so there was room for Mad to sit at his head. 

“Yeah. I basically do everything.” Mad shrugged and got on the bed as well, thankful for an almost empty room so he can focus on one thought rather than the others. 

“I was kind of unconscious the last time this happened.” Jackie weakly laughed. 

“Just close your eyes like you’re going to sleep,” Mad instructed. “The calmer you are, the easier it is for me to go in.” 

“Alright.” Jackie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Mad did the same and lowered his head, pressing his and Jackie’s foreheads together. 

He could feel the air shift around them, getting softer and softer as everything went dark. His mind and body shifted into a new form and it wasn’t long until Mad found himself back into Jackie’s mind, finding it a little clearer than before. 

_ “Jackie?”  _ Mad called out, stepping through what looked like a poorly lit hallway. He was in the opening of the mind, nothing unique about it. “ _ Jackie _ ?” Mad kept walking and soon the area expanded and light came in. Everything was a soft marron color, still empty but not coated in ink. He could still find puddles of it and some dripped from the ceiling. 

“ _ Why am I stuck _ ?” Jackie’s voice was soft, retrained. Mad blinked and soon Jackie was in front of him, kneeling on the ground with ink dripping on his back and piling up, not holding him down anymore, but making it hard to stand due to the weight. “ _ I thought I moved on _ .” 

“ _ You will, eventually _ ,” Mad said, resisting the urge to peel the ink off of Jackie. All that would do would give him temporary peace of mind, making him think he was fine until it piled back on and pulled him back down and even heavier than before. Jackie has to do it himself, Mad can only do so much. 

“ _ How?” _ Jackie turned his head and looked at Mad, a rush of pleading and want hitting Mad and he had to take a step back, finding that it didn’t do anything. 

“ _ You’ll figure it out. It’s different for everyone _ .” Mad knew he needed to leave soon, he was getting dangerously close to changing things. 

“ _ You’ve helped me before...you helped _ .” Jackie gave Mad a smile and soon pleading was replaced with affection. “ _ Thank you _ .” 

“ _ I… _ ” All Mad could think to do was get out of Jackie’s mind, jerking up straight and feeling that his face was very warm. 

“Holy shit.” Jackie cursed after opening his eyes, his own face flushed as well. 

“I have to pee.” Mad blurted out and rushed out of the room. 

_ x~x~x _

“How are we doing, Wilford?” Dark asked, unable to see Wilford on screen but could hear him. 

“We’re doing great, man’s dead and I’m just helping myself to some snacks.” Wilford chuckled. 

“Don’t raid his fridge, Wil.” Dark sighed. 

“I’ll bring back an ice pop for ya.” Wilford laughed some more. “They have cherry, blueberry and…”

“Wil? Wilford?” Dark checked his connection to make sure they were still online. “Wilford are you there?” 

“What’s going on?” Chase asked. 

“Wilford, Wilford answer me,” Dark demanded. “Wilford-”

“Celine?” Dark went stiff when he heard Wilford say that name. 

“Wilford, come back now! Come back now!” Dark shouted. 

“How did you get here?” Wilford was ignoring Dark.

“Fuck!” 

“What’s going on?” Chase repeated his question. 

“I have to go to Wilford, keep an eye on Bim and Yandere,” Dark said to Chase before going away in a cloud of black smoke. 

“Wilford!?” Dark called out when he arrived. He was inside of a large house, the lights off and the body of the hit on the ground next to him. “Wilford!?” 

“What are you doing here?” Wilford croaked and Dark quickly followed the voice. 

“My sweet William, you look so different.” Dark had to stop and twitch, feeling something pulling inside of him. The voice was similar but something about it was wrong. “Your hair looks so silly.” That’s not how she talks. She’s not like that. 

“Celine...I…” Dark finally found the room and he stumbled to a stop. “Celine.” Wilford was kneeling on the ground, blood on his body as a young woman was standing in front of him, bending over so she could place her hands on his face. The woman, who almost looked like the woman from their past. She was pure black and something about her form looked off, like she wasn’t solid, she was waving like a liquid standing on its own. 

“Wilford!” Dark rushed over and shoved the woman away. “Wilford, listen to me.” Dark went down to his knees and saw that Wilford’s eyes were black like the woman’s body. “Wilford.” 

“She’s here. She’s here, what do I do?” Wilford blinked and a black tear rolled down his cheek.

“She’s not here. You know she can’t be here because I’m right here. She’s not real.” 

“D-Dark.” Wilford took in a breath that sounded forced as if his throat was getting clogged up. 

“William, dear, we should get going.” The woman said, reaching a hand towards Wilford. 

“Don’t.” Dark caught Wilford’s hand when he tried to raise it. “Think about JJ. You love him, right? Don’t ruin something good for you because of a lie.” Dark watched as more tears rolled down Wilford’s cheeks. “Thank about him-ah!” Dark cried out when something sharp was suddenly inside of his shoulder. Dark grabbed the object sticking out of him and when he pulled it out, he saw that it was a black knife. 

“Dark.” Wilford’s eyes were beginning to clear. He looked over at the woman and clenched his teeth, raising to his feet. “You’re definitely not Celine,” He said, pulling out his gun. “She would know to aim for the heart.” Wilford pulled the triggered and shot the woman right through the chest, the body collapsing into a black puddle. 

“Are you okay?” Dark asked, getting up as well. 

“I should be asking you that,” Wilford said, gesturing towards the bleeding wound on Dark’s shoulder. 

“I’ve had worse. We need to get back and tell the others.” Dark looked at the puddle. “I think Alice is attacking us first where it hurts.”


	5. Falling

“So how does that invisible stuff work?” Phantom asked as he sat on top of a pile of rocks inside of the cave they were in, looking down at JJ who was checking over the body, seeing what the man had on them and if any of it was useful for the second half of their assignment. “Are you like blending into the background or do you go clear?” 

“ _ It’s complicated _ .” JJ sighed. 

“Can you explain how I can understand you? I can tell you’re signing and I don’t know that language and yet I can practically hear it in my head whenever you do it.” 

“ _ Magic _ .” 

“That’s such a detailed answer. Everything makes perfect-” Phantom’s broad gestures threw him off balance and he fell off the pile of rocks. He was prepared to hit the ground but he was caught. Did JJ rush over to get him? 

“Looks like an angel’s fallen from above.” A man greeted with a large grin. 

“What in the fuck!?” Phantom lashed out and got out of the stranger’s arms. “I thought we were alone in here!?” 

“ _ We were _ .” JJ looked at the man, ready to attack if needed. 

“Didn’t mean to scare you, handsome.” The man bowed and took Phantom’s hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Name’s Illinois.” 

“Gross.” Phantom made a face and took his hand back. 

“ _ I’m JJ and he’s Phantom _ .” JJ gave Illinois a smile, catching that he was a good man. 

“Don’t just tell him our names!” Phantom snapped. 

“I see you’ve taken out my partner there,” Illinois said. “Thought it’d be the traps that would get him.” He added with a shrug. 

“Partner?” Phantom asked. 

“Not like that, no one’s tied ol’ Illinois down, at least not yet.” Illinois winked at Phantom who just grunted and rolled his eyes. 

“ _ Would you happen to know of his partner? We’re looking for him _ .” JJ asked. 

“He’s at the other end of the tunnel, I can show you two the way.” Illinois offered.

“That would be-”

“ _ Lovely _ .” JJ stopped Phantom by slapping a hand over his mouth. 

“Then we’re off!” Illinois chuckled. 

“We can find our way out on our own,” Phantom grumbled to JJ, who just gave him a smile and stopped suddenly, making it so he was now behind and Illinois was next to Phantom. “I could kill you and not even blink.” Phantom threatened when he saw Illinois smirking at him. 

“I love that.” Illinois chuckled. “I can tell that you’re really strong.” 

“Gyah-” Phantom tried to come up with a comment but was thrown off by the genuine sounding compliment. 

“You also have beautiful eyes, deep, dark and passionate.” Illinois stepped over so he was closer to Phantom. 

“I can and will kill you.” Phantom flashed his teeth in a snarl. 

“I know you can, but I don’t think you will.” Illinois was now brushing shoulder with Phantom. “You might try to come across as a bad guy, but I can tell you’ve got a soft soul.” Illinois’ smirk became a kind smile and Phantom found his voice caught in his throat once again. He and Illinois turned their heads when JJ tapped them on the shoulders.

“ _ Cute _ .” JJ signed with a giggle towards Phantom.

“I will tape your hands together!” Phantom shouted. 

“And we’re here.” Illinois pointed towards the mouth of the cave.

“Great, perfect. I’m ready to kill a man.” Phantom huffed and started to head out. 

“I’ll be here for a good while if you ever want to come and visit,” Illinois said, laughing when Phantom just flipped him off. 

“ _ Thank you, I’m sure we’ll see each other again _ .” JJ offered his hand after he was done signing. 

“ _ See you later.” _ Illinois signed with one hand and shook JJ’s with the other. JJ perked up when he saw Illinois sign. 

“ _ It was nice to meet you _ .” JJ smiled and went off to catch up with Phantom. 

x~x~x

“She was made of ink?” Chase asked as Edward was patching up Dark’s shoulder, cleaning out the ink made the wound worse and difficult to heal. Dark was sitting in a chair while Wilford was napping on the couch, having fallen asleep not too long after he and Dark made it back.

“Yes, she was solid black in my eyes but look normal and real to Wilford,” Dark explained.

“She’s getting stronger,” Mad said, sitting at the opposite end of the room as Jackie. Jackie was on the ground with Robbie and Blank, distracting them and himself from the situation, he wasn’t ready to hear anything about Alice yet. It still hurt. 

“Wonderful.” Dark grumbled. 

“I’m calling everyone back. We can get new informants if we have to.” Chase pressed his hand to his ear, getting stopped before even opening his mouth when JJ and Phantom came into the building. “Did everything go okay?” 

“ _ All done and fun _ .” JJ smiled towards Phantom who huffed through his nose and walked away.

“I’ll ask about that later,” Chase said and went back to his earpiece. “Marvin, Marvin I need you to come back.”

“I’m never going a mission with them again,” Phantom grumbled, sitting down next to Mad. 

“Did you not have fun…” Mad stopped when he felt something practically radiate off of Phantom. He leaned a little closer and sniffed, just to be sure. 

“What the fuck, Mad?” Phantom placed his hand on Mad’s face and moved him away. 

“Affection?” Mad groaned. Could he have just five minutes away from that? 

“Hell no!” Phantom shouted, getting the others to look at him. “Hell no.” He repeated in a softer tone. 

“Please tell me you didn’t do anything with JJ.” Mad whispered, gesturing with his head towards Wilford. “We don’t need him pissed off at the moment.” 

“No, I didn’t do anything. I’m not a dumbass.” Phantom said. “And I don’t have any affection in me.” 

“Is it lust then?” Mad teased, chuckling when Phantom went stiff.

“I’m going to throw up.” Phantom stuck his tongue out. 

“Jamesy!” Wilford cried out when he woke up and saw that JJ was hovering over him, eyes filled with concern. “My little, Jamesy!” Wilford reached out and pulled JJ down on top of him. 

“So what’s this about an ink woman?” Marvin asked as he, Mare, Bim, and Yandere appeared in the room in a cloud of green smoke. 

“Time for a family meeting.” Chase sighed, going over to Marvin and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

Mare caught that Jackie and Mad had looked at each other and quickly turned away. He also saw that Phantom was curled up in what would look like in annoyance to others but he knew it was a pout. At least Blank was doing fine. 


	6. Second Drop

“We’re doing the buddy system,” Chase stated, getting a loud groan from Anti, a sigh from the other Septiceyes and everyone else looking in confusion. “No one is allowed to be alone at any time from now on.” Chase clarified. 

“Even the shitter?” Phantom asked with a scoff.

“Especially the shitter.” Chase pointed at Phantom who scrunched his face. 

“Basically it means no more going out on our own, don’t leave without at least one other person with you. We also always need another person in the room with you, which means we’re doubling up in every bedroom.” Marvin started to pace as he spoke, trying to think things through. 

“Alice went after Wilford cause he was the only one alone and if we stick together, she’s less likely to attack again like that.” Chase was tapping his foot as he tried to order things as well in his head.

“We have myself and Chase, Henrik and Edward, Google and Bing, JJ and Wilford, Anti and Dark and Mad and Phantom already bunked together.” Marvin counted off the names with his fingers. 

“Don’t make it sound like we’re together.” Phantom groaned. “That’s gross.” He looked over at Mad, expecting a reaction or something but Mad was too busy staring at the ground. So much for hiding away from everyone. It was going to be a constant emotion overload. 

“We can have Robbie move into our room and have Mare room with Blank,” Chase suggested. 

“Bim can move into Yandere’s so that they’re right next to CJ and RJ,” Dark said.

“Host would like to request being alone still when it comes to sleeping.” Host said. “He is not seen as a threat by Alice and will be fine.” 

“Buddy system is buddy system for all,” Chase said. 

“I’m going to have to throw in my vote for Host being left alone,” Dark said. “Sleeping is...complicated when it comes to Host and it’s better for no one else to be in the room. He can’t be harmed in his sleep.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” Anti said.

“It’s complicated.” Was all Dark would say. 

“We’re not leaving Jackie alone,” Marvin said. We’re going to have to triple for him too, then.” 

“I’d rather not be in a room with a couple,” Jackie said. 

“That leaves the twins, Blank and Mare and Phantom and Mad.”

“Like hell, I’m getting tag-teamed by the most emotionally driven people in this house.” Phantom threw his hands into the air. “I’ll do bunk beds with my brother and they can talk about their feelings alone.” Mad went stiff while Jackie cleared his throat into his hand. 

“We should ask Blank if he’s fine with this,” Mare said. 

“Blank doesn’t care, it’s only for when we sleep anyways.” Phantom shrugged. “Let’s just start moving shit around and if Blank has a problem, he’ll say so.” 

“We both know he doesn’t work like that,” Mare said. 

“Then ask him while I pack.” Phantom turned around and walked off. 

“I’ll be the babysitter,” Chase said as he followed Phantom. 

“Is it possible to un-brother somebody?” Mare groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

x~x~x

Host was flat on his back, eyes shut and body still as he slept in Jackie’s room. Having agreed to sleep in there so that he was still next to Edward, it was rare, but sometimes the dreams could hurt him if it was a very bad nightmare. The most if would do was float above him in a strange cloud, just hovering above him and doing nothing besides the occasional color change. Host knew how to make sleep dreamless, how to just lay and rest and control his thoughts mildly. He had enough imagery in his life due to narration, he needed a break from it. He never understood how the cloud worked, just that it was there when he would go to sleep and yet it didn’t if he passed out. It was just part of his curse. 

He woke by something slapping over his mouth, cutting him off of narrating and forcing him to be purely blind. Host knew something was wrong, no one could ever dare do that to him, not even Edward and he was the one that was allowed to if needed. 

“ _ We’ve changed, haven’t we _ ?” 

That voice.

That voice that haunts his nightmares, that voice which carries every single moment of regret Host has ever known. That voice used to be his. 

Host managed to roll away from the hand and he fell off of the bed, coughing as he tried to find his voice, to narrate, to see, but the only thing his mind and body could think of doing was one thing,

_ Scream _ .

Edward was the first one to fly out of his room, rushing over to Host’s and grabbing the doorknob, his hands slipping off due to ink. 

“Host!” Edward shouted as everyone else made their way to the hall as well. “I can’t get in, there’s ink!” 

“I got it!” Jackie rushed over to the door, rocked back onto one foot and slammed the other into the door, breaking the latch and forcing it to swing open. “Aw, shit, that was my door.” He added to himself. 

“Edward, you get to Host, we’ll take care of whatever’s in there.” Dark gestured between himself and Anti. “Wil, I think it’d be best if you stayed back here, I don’t want to risk anything.” Dark turned when Host screamed again. “Let’s go!” Dark, Anti and Edward rushed into the room while the others tried to peek in.

“Why isn’t it the  _ thing  _ that ruined me?” An ink man shouted, pointing at Dark with one hand while the other held Host by the neck. “Where did you put my eyes!? Where did you put them!?” 

“What is he talking about?” Anti asked. 

“How does she know about this?” Dark asked instead of answering Anti, not even hearing his question. 

“You did this to me! You did this! Look at what you’ve done!” The man threw Host to the ground and stepped on his chest. “I’m weak and pathetic and fucking  _ nothing _ .” 

“Move!” A shout got Dark and Anti to jump to the side, a bullet flying between them and shooting the man right between the eyes, sending him down to the ground just like the fake Celine. “Are we ready to fucking listen to me now!?” Chase snapped after lowering the shotgun he had just used. 

“Host!” Edward pushed his way through and fumbled down to his knees to Host, who was clawing at his neck as if he was still being held. His bandage was soaked with a black liquid that Edward assumed as ink. 

“Henrik, can you get my bag from my room?” Edward asked and Henrik took off.

“That was the man who writes,” RJ said, his and CJ’s eyes were wide. 

“Go back to bed,” Dark said. 

“The man who writes,” CJ repeated in a soft voice. 

“Bed,” Dark said sternly and Bing ushered the two away, Google right behind them. 

“Dark’s filled with guilt.” Mad whispered to Mare. “And that fake was yelling about his eyes and Host as if he was Host.” 

“We’re missing something, that’s for sure,” Mare said. 

“Want me to go digging?” 

“No, we don’t do that to them anymore.” 


	7. Strained Sight

Dark felt something heavy forcing him to slump as he packed his night stuff into a box, he knew it was guilt but he refused to accept it at that moment. Dark had agreed to sleep in the same room as Host at night while Robbie would be in Anti’s room. He was more than ready for this mess to be done and over with even if that meant ripping out Alice’s inky heart with his bare hands. 

“Dark?” Anti came into the room and shut the door behind him. “Who was that man?” 

“You don’t have to worry about it, it’s something from the past and we’ve moved on,” Dark stated, not looking at Anti since he knew it would make him break. Damn his weakness for the virus.

“Who was he?” Anti repeated and went over to the bed. “Dark? Who was he?” Anti grabbed the box and slid it away from Dark.

“You don’t want to know.” Dark was now just staring down at the bed. 

“You know all about my past and the shit I’ve been through and done.” Anti placed a hand on Dark’s cheek, turning his face so he was looking at him. “It’s only fair for you to do the same.” 

“Promise you won’t run,” Dark said softly.

“Haven’t ran yet.” Anti lowered his hand when Dark turned around and sat on the bed. 

“His name was Author.” Dark took a deep breath as Anti sat next to him. “He was what Host used to be, before...well...how do I put this?” 

“Before you took his eyes?” Anti offered. 

“Yeah.” Dark rubbed the back of his neck, feeling it ache. “Author was chaotic.”

“Aren’t we all?” Anti weakly chuckled, his laugh dying off when Dark didn’t react. 

“He was literal chaos, he wrote the narrative. Violent, cruel, and crude and blunt enough to make you look pure.” Dark patted Anti’s knee, showing that he was still here and not lost in the memory. “He was dangerous to me and everyone else. He was apart of us and almost killed Wilford.” 

“He almost killed Wilford?” Anti shook his head. “That’s...holy shit.” 

“He thought Wilford was dead, went after me and I...I did what was best for everyone.” Dark looked at hands, clenching them and then relaxing them. “It was gruesome. Bloody, loud, repulsive and Edward...Edward saw it all.” Dark blinked a few times. “We never knew why, but Author had a weak spot for Edward, he formed a friendship with him and it carried into Host.” 

“Did he just shift into a completely new person, were his eyes the reason he was the way he was?” Anti rattled his brain, trying to connect the dots. 

“He was cursed and the curse adapted.” Dark shrugged. “None of us know the full story of what happened to him, not even Host knows.” 

“Fuck.” Anti leaned his head against Dark’s shoulders. “That’s just fucked.” 

“Very fucked indeed.” 

“I’m gonna kill Alice.” 

“We’ll do it together.” 

x~x~x

Edward silently worked as he removed Host’s bandage, finding that it was, once again, soaked black with ink. He was hoping that the ink would run out soon, he was going to start digging in there if this happens one more time. Edward didn’t want to, he knew how much Host hated it and how risky it was but this was getting concerning. 

“You’re being really quiet, Host,” Edward commented. Host would usually just narrate what was around him if he didn’t want to get lost in his thoughts and now would be a great time for that. “Host?” Edward saw that Host’s wasn’t moving. “Host? Host!?” Edward pressed his ear to Host’s chest, hearing nothing. “Fuck!” Edward starting digging in his bag. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! Henrik! Henrik come help!” 

“You killed him.” A voice said behind him. 

“I didn’t.” Edward protested and pulled out a portable defibrillator.

“You killed him.” The voice repeated while Edward turned the machine on. 

“He’s not dead! Fuck off!” Edward shouted, hands shaking as he tried to peel the sticky pads apart. 

“You failed him.” The voice was now closer, right on Edward’s shoulders. Edward didn’t respond this time and placed the pads on Host’s chest. “You failed him.” 

“Shut up,” Edward said between gritted teeth and grabbed the defibrillators. 

“You failed him.”

“Shut up!” Edward placed the defibrillators on Host’s chest, his hands sinking through the body as if it was made of liquid and getting stuck inside. “What the fuck!?” He cried out. “What the fuck!?” Edward tried to yank his hands back out but couldn’t.

“Couldn’t even keep one alive, could you?” The voice felt like it was pressed right against Edward’s ear. “You couldn’t save anyone.” 

“I know you’re not real. You’re not real, you’re not real.” Edward could feel tears forming in his eyes. He blinked and saw that Host was now pure black, the ink slowly traveling up his arms. “You’re not…” Edward gagged when it felt like the ink was in the back of his throat. It was thick, bitter and clogged air from going through. The ink traveled up more and soon blocked his sight, turning everything black.

“On it!” Jackie’s voice was muffled from behind the door and soon it was sent flying open. “I’m going to end up kicking in every door in this house.” 

“Hey!” Anti shouted in protest. 

Edward gasped when he was suddenly able to breathe. He could feel the ink blocking his sight drip out of his eyes and down his cheeks and after a few blinks, he was able to see a knife in the fake Host’s forehead and Henrik holding the handle as the body slowly melted away into a puddle, leaking all over the bed. 

“What happened!?” Dark demanded. “I thought you were with Host.” 

“Edward was.” Host answered. Edward slumping down to the ground telling everyone he couldn’t do it himself t that moment. “Host required a restroom break and Edward was with him. When Host came out, Edward was gone.” 

“You came out,” Edward said, coughing to clear his throat. “And your bandage needed changed.” 

“She made a double of Host,” Mare stated. “She’s getting smart.” 

“She’s getting cruel. Two in one day?” Chase rubbed at his face. “Wilford’s still recovering as well.” 

“We need to find her, we need to find her now,” Marvin stated. 


	8. Choke

“What do you know about her?” Chase asked Mare as everyone, almost everyone was gathered in the living room, doing different things in an attempt to find Alice. Edward was asleep on the couch with Henrik sitting next to him. Host was on the other end of the couch, head down and body slumped. Wilford sat in the corner of the room with JJ, headphones in their ears as they watched videos from a laptop. Phantom was texting away on his phone and every time Mad tried to see what he was doing, Phantom would hiss at him and curl up more so the screen was hidden with his body.

“Uh…” Mare chewed the inside of his cheek. 

“Please tell me you know  _ something  _ about your daughter.” Marvin huffed. “Anything, favorite color, does she like to read, was she born a raging cun-” Marvin was stopped by Chase placing a hand over his mouth.

“Literally anything will help,” Chase said. “Anti’s really good at hunting down people.” 

“What’s the plan when we do find her?” Bim suddenly asked. “Are we just going to charge in like we usually do? People get hurt when we do that. We get knocked out or shot.” 

“We’ll come up with a plan, we always do, they’ve just been interrupted a few times,” Dark stated. 

“They’ve been getting interrupted ever since we joined the Septiceyes,” Bim said softly, but loud enough to be heard. 

“Bim!” Yandere gasped. 

“I’m just saying! No one else has seen this?” Bim’s voice cracked. 

“Bim, what’s really going on?” Dark asked. “You’re not acting like yourself.” 

Robbie realized that he needed to go to the bathroom and he was going to ask Blank to join him but Blank was busy doing a color by number with Anti. 

“I’m just worried, alright?” Bim placed his hands on his chest. “I don’t like seeing everyone get hurt.” 

“You’re worried about Yandere,” Chase said.

Robbie wiggled a little, maybe he could wait till this talk was over, but it was sounding really serious and those could last a long time. He really needed to go. 

“Of course I’m worried about Yan, I’m worried about everyone,” Bim said. “I’m sorry for shitting on the Septiceyes, I didn’t mean it like that.” 

“Perhaps Bim should take a break?” Google suggested. “Give him some time to recharge.” 

Robbie got to his feet and bounced between them for another moment before giving in and walking away, everyone too busy in the argument to notice Robbie had left.

He was going to go in, go fast and be back before the conversation was even over with. Robbie knew he was supposed to have a buddy but he just really really needed to go. Everything was going fine and Robbie was stepping out of the bathroom, ready to head back to the living room when he heard a loud crack. Like something had been snapped. 

“Devil-child! Devil-child!” 

“Hello?” Robbie could feel his body shaking as he looked around. The air around him was getting warmer and warmer as if a flame was being held up towards Robbie. “Hello!? Hel-” Robbie was stopped by something throwing him into the wall, pressing against his throat. 

“Devil-child! Devil-child!” Robbie blinked and saw a large man holding him up by his neck. Something about this man looked familiar to Robbie and fear went straight down his spine. “The Devil brought you here! Your marking is a sign!” Robbie gagged and kicked out his feet, tears forming in his eyes from the pain of the choking and from the words. 

He hated those words.

He hated it.

They were so hurtful.

They were so mean.

The reminded him of a painful time, a memory that he refused to think of anymore. He didn’t know what he did wrong, what he did to deserve it. 

Was he bad?

He wasn’t bad.

He was a good boy.

He was...

He…

Was strong. 

“No!” Robbie dug his nails into the man’s arms and yanked down, tearing most of the flesh off and showing ink underneath. The man was still able to hold Robbie. 

“Devil-child!” The man pressed down harder and Robbie reacted by clawing again, completely severing the arms. Robbie landed on his feet and didn’t even take a moment to recover before diving on the man. He let out a scream and tore into the man’s chest, using his hands and mouth to rip him to shreds. Sending solid chunks of ink everywhere that would become small puddles as soon as they landed. 

“Robbie! Robbie!” Marvin’s voice was muffled through Robbie’s rage. He just kept going and going until nothing was left. 

“Robbie!” Chase’s voice finally got through and Robbie turned towards him, ink dripping off of his body and running down his cheeks. Clear tears were now coming through and causing streaks in the ink. Robbie rushed over to Chase and hugged him. “What were you thinking, going off alone like that?” Robbie just held Chase tighter and sobbed. “I just…” Chase sniffed and ran a hand through Robbie’s hair, finding that it was caked in ink as well.

“I’m sorry,” Robbie said. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad at you, I was just scared.” Chase could only assume what the attack was based on since they came in at the very end of it. 

“That was gnarly.” Phantom stated, taking a picture of the mess. 

“Who are you sending that to?” Mad asked, trying to, once again, look at Phantom’s phone. 

“None of your business.” Phantom tucked the phone into his pocket. 

“ _ I know _ ,” JJ said with a twitch of his mustache. 

“I will get the tape,” Phantom warned between almost closed lips. 

“ _ I’ll grab your ear _ ,” JJ warned back and went over to Wilford, who was leaning against the wall. 

“Promise me you’ll never do that again,” Marvin said, rubbing a hand on Robbie’s back. 

“I didn’t wanna be rude,” Robbie said. “You were all talkin’.” 

“I grant you full permission to do that if you need something, okay?” Chase said. “We’re in a scary time and we have to be safe.” 

“Okay.” Robbie sniffed and looked around. “I made a mess.” 

“We’ll take care of it buddy.” Chase chuckled. 

Anti felt his own phone buzz in his pocket and when he pulled it out, a large grin crept up his lips. He ran his tongue over his teeth to get his smile to go away and he put his phone back into his jeans. 

Chase was right.

He was great at hunting.


	9. Sneaking Out

Anti sat on the edge of Robbie’s bed until he was finally fast asleep, exhausted from what had happened but too worked up to go down easily. He lingered for a little longer, running a calming hand through Robbie’s hair, seeing no reaction and telling him that Robbie was unconscious to the world around him. Anti couldn’t help from hoping that Robbie would somehow forget what had happened, what he had done but he knew that the likelihood of that being was slim to none. Robbie always remembers but he doesn’t acknowledge and is able to ignore it unless something similar brings up the memories. Robbie remembers his own death with every single detail, why would tearing apart an ink monster with his own teeth be any different? 

A small mumble came out of Robbie as he was scooped up by Anti. Robbie sniffed once and easily settled back down, nuzzling into Anti’s chest as he was carried out of the room. Anti assumed Robbie would have been fine left alone, what was the chance of Alice going after him again? He didn’t want to risk it though since she’s pulled some unexpecting tricks several times already. Anti shifted Robbie’s weight so he could hold him with one arm as the other reached out and turned the doorknob to Chase and Marvin’s bedroom door. He knew every move and every step to take to be completely silent as he went it. Years of sneaking in to sleep next to their bed after a bad nightmare has taught Anti where the floor squeaked and where it did not. 

Anti gently placed Robbie down on one of two makeshift beds on the ground that he knew Chase had set up. Anti covered Robbie with a blanket and made sure he was fully on the thick pile of blankets before straightening back up and stepping out of the room for a moment. He returned with a human-sized dummy in his hands and placed it on the ground next to Robbie, fully covering it with a blanket. After being sure it looked perfect Anti looked at the sleeping Chase and Marvin, seeing that Chase had a protective arm around Marvin, who was curled up against him, showing that even in his sleep, Chase was caring of his family. Anti was too and he was going to do what it took to keep them all safe. He left the room once more, slowly closing the door behind him but allowing it to click, knowing what was going to happen cause of it and preventing Robbie from getting stepped on in the morning. 

Behind the door, the click was enough to rustle Chase out of sleep enough to be somewhat aware of what was around him. He flipped over and reached out, feeling it touch Robbie’s shoulder. Through squinted eyes, Chase saw another body and he reached further feeling that it was solid as well. His mind filled in the blanks for what had happened and he gave the one body a little pat and Robbie a back rub. Chase turned over against and hugged Marvin against him. 

Anti waited until the room was silent for several beats before moving away from the door and down the dark, quiet, hallway. He actually found himself listening in on each room, making sure that there was no trouble in them. Mare, Blank, and Phantom’s room was silent and so was JJ and Wilford’s. He heard nothing from Henrik and Edward’s room as well. 

Anti stopped at the room Host and Dark were sleeping in when he heard whimpers. He was going to open the door to check what was going on but he found that it was locked by a black smoke surrounding the doorknob. Dark’s black smoke. Dark had mentioned Host had problems sleeping, was it the whimpering he was talking about? Nightmares? Host must not have wanted the others to know about them. Anti really couldn’t blame him, Anti didn’t like mentioned he had nightmares sometimes as well. Anti wasn’t expecting to hear mumbling that sounded like Dark’s voice and soon the whimpering stopped. Dark must have woken up Host and soothed him, the thought making Anti’s face warm up a bit. Dark was a little different when it came to being in private, he was a big softie but he’d never admit it out loud to others, no matter how true it was. 

Anti finally moved away from that door and heard certain sounds coming from Google and Bing’s room. He knew that they did...that but for some reason, he expected different noises from androids. He went back a little to check Mad and Jackie’s room and heard some incoherent muttering that didn’t sound like a fully conscious thought. Anti knew that Jackie didn’t talk in his sleep, he was like a rock and sometimes had other Septiceyes wonder if he even breathed in his sleep. Was Mad a sleep-talker? It wasn’t much of a stretch to believe considering how his powers worked and with how much had been happening lately, there’s a good chance it was messing with him.

Anti was walking down the hall once more, only having two more rooms to check before he went out. Yandere and Bim’s room was thankfully silent but he heard the Jim talking and their light was on. Really? He opened the door and stepped in, finding the twins on the floor of the room with a notebook between them. They quickly scrambled to shut the book when they saw Anti.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Anti asked.

“Shouldn’t you?” RJ asked back as CJ shoved the notebook up his shirt to hide it. 

“Valid point,” Anti said with a shrug. “What’s with the notebook?” 

“Research,” RJ stated in a tone that told Anti that was all he was going to get.

“Does Dark know of it?” Anti was still going to try to pry anyways. 

“He knows what we do,” RJ said.

“Kind of,” CJ added softly

“Kind of?” Anti crouched down a little. “What is it that you two do? How do you know everything?” 

“We just do,” RJ said. “The house gave it to us.” 

“The house? What…” Anti stopped himself and looked over his shoulder, eyes focusing on the room Dark was in. “The house.” 

“You’re leaving,” CJ said. 

“Yeah.” Anti knew there was no point in denying it. 

“You shouldn’t,” RJ said. “It’s a bad idea.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Anti said. 

“We know,” CJ said. 

“It won’t take long.” Anti went back to the door. 

“We know,” RJ said. 

“You two should try speaking in unison, it’s even creepier.” Anti chuckled. “Now, go to bed or the Boogeyman will get you.” 

“There’s no Boogeyman.” CJ and RJ said together. 

“Better. And there is, his name is Dark when you don’t do what he says.” Anti had lowered his voice as he slowly closed the door, smirking when he saw the light go off and beds squeaking. 

Anti waited a few moments and was walking away once more, going to the living room and he went to the control panel. He crouched and reached under it, knowing Chase kept two special kinds of guns under here in case he wasn’t able to get to the weapon’s room. Anti sometimes wondered if Chase had forgotten if they were under there since he only pulled out his sniper from here. Anti checked the guns for bullets and when he saw that both of them were full, he tucked one in the back of his pants and kept the other in his hand. He rubbed his nose and sniffed once before glitching away. 


	10. No More Tears

Anti had set a news notice on his phone for anything involving libraries or books in general. When he got a text saying that a library’s entire book collection had gone missing, specifically all of the ink of the books were gone, he knew she had to be there. The library affected wasn’t far away and that meant Alice was close to that location. She was focusing on getting stronger and messing with everyone rather than getting away and hiding. 

After a quick search of the area, there was an abandoned building due to be torn down in a month and Anti knew she had to be there. Cliche and lazy but it made sense for what her plans most likely are; 

She was tired of being bossed around, she was tired of always being second-fiddle, being ‘the other child’ since Mare showed a clear favor to Blank but who could blame him? She was the only girl, ignored, treated like she didn’t know anything and it was too much. She was going to be in charge and she needed to get rid of her competition.

Anti knew a lot of that was an assumption based on what Mare has said but there was enough for Anti to work with and take her down. Alice had hurt his family and he wasn’t going to let her do that anymore.

Anti walked up to the building and kicked open the door, stepping in and shouting.

“Alice! Come out and play!” He wasn’t in the mood to deal with sneaking and games, he wanted this over. “Alice, oh Alice!” Anti was in a dimly lit room it looked like this place was used for storage or something since the room was fairly large. “Stop hiding!” 

“Anti?” That voice got Anti to stiffen. He shouldn’t be hearing that. That voice was long gone. “What are you doing?” 

“No fucking way.” Anti huffed when a very familiar man stepped out from the shadows. “That’s fucked up Alice. Really fucked up.” 

“Who are you-”

“Shut the fuck up.” Anti pointed the gun towards the man who was identical to his ex, Micah. Anti knew he was dead, he had killed his with his own hands, but seeing him caused his stomach to churn. “How do you even know about him?” 

“Who are you talking to?” 

“Oh, fuck right off!” Anti shouted when his ex-girlfriend, the same one that burned down the Iplier’s Headquarters, was now standing next to Micah. “You feel good about yourself? I’ve killed them before, I’ll do it again!” 

“You’ve done what?” Anti quickly turned around and wasn’t expecting to see two other women, both of them having been with Anti in the past. 

“What the fuck?” Anti squeaked out. 

“You’re a killer?” There were now two more men with the same connection to Anti as the girls.

“How many more are going to come out?” Micah scoffed. “I guess I was right about you, everyone was right about you.” 

“Right about me?” Anti chewed on the inside of his lip, chuckling a little.

“You’re a slut.” 

“Really? That’s what you’re going with? You’re going to call me a slut?” Anti laughed. “Oh, please. I know what I like and I don’t have shame with what I’ve done anymore. And Alice, try being a little more creative next time. I have no more tears for them.” Anti shot Micah and without missing a beat, he shot the ex-girlfriend. He shot both of the women and both of the men, all of them falling into puddles of ink. Anti shot again when he heard more feet, probably another fake one-nighter of his Alice was going to use against him. 

“A-Anti.” 

“Oh, shit!” Anti dropped the gun in his hand and he rushed over to Dark. Dark had a hand over his stomach where Anti had shot him. “Oh, shit, shit, shit!” Where had he come from? Had he been following Anti the entire time? How had Anti not notice him? He hurt Dark, he didn’t want to do that, he never wanted to do that. 

“Why?” Dark croaked out.

“It was an accident! I didn’t see you.” Anti tried to keep his own breathing even, he needed to worry about Dark at the moment. 

“It hurts.”

“I’m so sorry! Why are you…here...” Anti stopped himself when he noticed the blood leaking between Dark’s fingers. “That dumbass.” Anti grabbed the gun that was tucked away and fired behind Dark, grinning when he heard a shriek of pain. “He bleeds black, bitch.” Anti was going to say more but the fake Dark lunged and stabbed a knife into Anti’s shoulder. “Fuck!” Anti fell over with the fake Dark on top of him. 

“Get off!” Anti heard someone shout before the body was tossed off of him. 

“Fuckin-” Anti rolled to his knees and aimed the gun with one hand, eyes going wide when he saw two Darks. 

“Shoot him!” One of the Darks shouted, pointing at the other. Anti tried to find blood to give away who was the fake but they must have made it fade back into the color of Dark’s suit. “Shoot him!” The one Dark shouting was angry and the other just stared at the gun in fear. 

Anti didn’t have to choose as the angry Dark was shot from behind, falling over and becoming an ink puddle. 

“Anti!” Chase and Marvin rushed over to Anti while Wilford was putting his gun away and talking to Dark. 

“You’re so grounded when we take care of this!” Marvin scolded, looking at the knife in Anti’s arm. 

“What were you thinking!? Heading off like that!” Chase added to the scolding.

“He got her,” Mare said. He and Mad were over where Anti had fired his last shot. 

“There’s blood.” Mad added. 

“How much?” Dark asked, voice a little shakey.

“Not a lot, she’s not dead or there’d be a body,” Mare said.

“That should be enough for the twins,” Wilford said. 

“Plenty for them.” Dark agreed. 

“What does that...oh…” Anti was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea, his eyes unfocusing and head spinning. “The fuck-” Anti passed out, falling against Chase. 


	11. Siblings

“I’m going to warn all of you that this might get a little strange,” Dark said, standing in the middle of the living room with a vial of Alice’s blood. The others were gathered around him;

Anti was sleeping on the couch with Chase and Marvin, still recovering from earlier. Robbie sat between JJ and Henrik on the other couch. Edward was sitting on the armrest next to Henrik while Wilford was on the other next to JJ. Bing was sitting in a chair with Google behind him while Yandere and Bim were the same in the second chair. Host sat in the third chair with one hand towards his lip in thought. Phantom was sitting on the ground with Blank while Mad stood between Mare and Jackie behind them. 

“I don’t think anything could weird us out.” Marvin chuckled. 

“You’ll be surprised.” Dark held the vial towards RJ and CJ. “Tell me what you know.” 

“Okay!” RJ and CJ both perked up and took the vial. RJ popped it open and they both took a deep sniff. 

“Smelling blood? I’ve seen worse.” Henrik shrugged. 

“Wait for it.” Wilford placed a hand over JJ’s eyes. 

“Wha-” Henrik stopped himself when RJ put some of the blood on his finger and stuck it in his mouth, CJ doing the same. “I mean, it’s not the weirdest, but it’s up there.” 

“Alice Angel,” RJ and CJ spoke in unison, lifting their heads up and showing everyone that their eyes had glossed over and became a cloudy, light blue. 

“Now it’s weird,” Chase said. 

“Alice Angel.” The twins said again. 

“Age; twenty-seven,” RJ said.

“Sex; female,” CJ said. 

“Gender; female,” 

“Sexuality; heterosexual,”

“Romantic; heteroromantic,”

“Race; ink.” 

“Species, magic.”

“Scared of being forgotten.” The twins were speaking together once more. “Scared of being alone, scared of not being heard. Hatred for being an outsider, hatred for Blank, hatred of being second to Blank. Soft spot, brain.” The last word became a cough from the two and the vial was dropped. Yandere went to CJ while Bim went to RJ. 

“How we feeling?” Yandere asked CJ, getting no words, and CJ just wrapped his arms around Yandere, closing his eyes. 

“Tired.” Was all RJ could get out before resting against Bim. 

“Get them to bed,” Dark said, picking up the vial. 

“Up we go.” Yandere lifted CJ up and she and Bim carried the two out of the room. 

“I gotta piss.” Phantom bluntly said and followed them.

“Host, did you get anything from them?” Edward asked. 

“RJ and CJ weren’t able to complete their processing before exhaustion took over.” Host stated. “Host will have to wait until they’ve rested and finished the job before trying to get his own information.” 

“There’s only a touch of blood left, but it should be enough if they need more,” Dark said. 

“I have several questions,” Henrik said. 

“Are they like Host?” Chase asked. 

“Not really,” Edward said. “Host is able to look into the future and can get a general read on people but he’s usually stopped from being able to say it to anyone. It’s rare when he can give a prophecy to us or a full reading. The twins, on the other hand, can gather information from a person with a look, it’s usually one big thing of information and then the top layer of it. Like how they knew Anti was a Virus, or Marvin having magic or Chase being bulletproof.”

“Then what’s with eating the blood?” Jackie asked. 

“To get more on the person they’re studying, they need a close, personal contact to the person. Usually through something physical.” Edward scratched at his jaw. “And what’s more personal than someone’s blood?” 

“What else are they going to be able to tell us?” Chase asked, running a hand through Anti’s hair when he started to stir. 

“It a game of chance.” Dark went over to the couch and crouch down in front of Anti, placing a hand on his cheek. “Anti, are you awake?” Anti just opened one eye and stuck his tongue out when he saw Dark. 

“Someone take a picture, this is the softest I have ever seen Dark,” Wilford said, a laugh following.

“Can you come with me?” Jackie whispered to Mad. Mad stiffened a little but nodded, tapping on Mare’s arm and gesturing with his head that he was going. Mare only nodded as well, looking away when he saw that Mad was leaving with Jackie.

“What’s up?” Mad asked when they got out of the room. 

“I could tell you were getting uncomfortable,” Jackie said. 

“I wasn’t really…” Mad chewed on his lip. “I’m getting used to their stuff.” 

“Their stuff?” Jackie asked with a raised brow. 

“It’s hard to explain how all of this works in one go,” Mad said.

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” Jackie gave Mad that smile, that same damned smile that still warmed Mad’s chest, twisted his stomach with butterflies, and made him want to act up.

“Maybe after dinner, we could-” Mad slapped a hand over his mouth when a sudden strong wave of emotion hit him. He bent over and started coughing. 

“Hey, you okay there?” Jackie placed a hand on Mad’s back, which somehow cued another wave. 

“I-I…” Mad tried to speak but his throat started to close and he started to wheeze. “M-Mare.” Mad managed to choke out before his body started to heave as it tried to get air. 

“Oh shit!” Jackie scooped up Mad and rushed back into the living room. “Mare! Mare, help!” Jackie cried out, placing Mad down. 

“What happened?” Chase asked as Mare knelt down next to Mad. 

“We were just talking and then he just stopped breathing.” Jackie was hugging himself, trying to prevent himself from shaking. Did he do that? Was he to blame? 

“Try to lift your head.” Mare was the only one calm in the room as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an inhaler. “Here.” Mare pressed the inhaler to Mad’s mouth and that got Mad to lift his hands and take over, pressing the top of it several times as he took deep breathes. “I’m going to step outside with him.” Mare helped MAd to his feet. “Blank, come get us in five minutes, okay?” 

“Okay.” Blank had curled up where he was sitting. 

“I got you.” Mare walked with Mad out of the building, closing the door behind them. “We’re going to sit here.” He said as he guided Mad to sit down a few steps away from the door, leaning him against the building’s wall. Mare plopped down next to him. The two sat in a calm silence for a long while. “You good?” Mare asked softly.

“Yeah,” Mad said, clearing his throat when his voice came out clogged. 

“I thought you were getting used to them,” Mare said. 

“I am.” Mad sniffed and took one more take of his inhaler. “We’re going to need to get me a refill soon.” 

“I’ll ask if they know a good place around here,” Mare said. “And if you’re getting used to them, what caused this attack?”    
“Something new hit me.” 

“Something new?” 

“There was a new and strong feeling of affection.” 

“Affection?” Mare pressed his head back against the wall. “Where could that come from? Most of them are paired off already and if there were hidden feelings, you’d feel them a while ago.” 

“The weird thing was, it was new but familiar. It wasn’t one of the others, it felt like one of us.” 

“One of…” Mare swallowed thickly, thankful when he hear d a soft knock. 

“All okay?” Blank asked, peeking around the now open door. 

“Do you mind sitting out here with him for a little longer? I need to check something.” Mare got up and went back into the building, not waiting for an answer. Mare saw that Phantom still wasn’t back and he powered straight through. Marvin caught the anger and urgency in Mare’s steps and he slipped away from the group, who were all now talking to Anti and working out what to do with the twin’s information. 

Marvin was practically gliding across the floor as he followed Mare, stopping when Mare went into Phantom’s room and slammed the door shut. He slid to the door and pressed his ear against it. 

“Give me your phone,” Mare said.

“What? No.” Phantom scoffed, his voice giving off as if he thought MAre was joking. 

“Give me it, now.” Mare was not joking. 

“Dude, the fuck you on? Hey!” There were sounds of a struggle and more curses from Phantom. “Don’t read those!” 

“Who the hell is Illinois!? Mare shouted. 

“Why do you care!?” Phantom shouted back. 

“Because you haven’t told me about this! What happened to telling each other everything!?”

“Don’t pull that shit on me when you know damn well you have never told me about your-” 

“Marvin?” Chase’s voice pulled Marvin away and he didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. 

“Give me a moment,” Marvin whispered and went back to listening. 

“That is not true!” Mare sounded shocked by what Phantom had said. 

“Don’t give me that bullshit and give me my phone instead.” 

“Not until you tell me about him.” 

“There’s nothing to tell you!”

“You’re blushing.”

“Give me my phone!” 

“Mad said he felt a new strong wave of affection coming from a familiar source, it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Blank. So, again, who is this Illinois?” 

“Fuck off!” 

“Who is he!?”

“You’re just pissed that-”

“We really shouldn’t be eavesdropping,” Chase said. 

“It’s too late.” Marvin tried to catch the rest of that sentence but only got the ending.

“-instead of you!” There was suddenly a harsh silence. A painfully long pause before there was a crunch. “My phone! Mare! What the fuck!?” Chase and Marvin stumbled away when the door opened and Mare stepped out.

“Were you listening to us?” Mare’s voice was harsh and sharp, his eyes starting to go red as if he was holding back tears. 

“We-uh-were just-walking-passing-”

“What did you hear?” Mare stopped Chase from rambling.

“Noth-”

“What did you hear!?” 

“Phantom has a possible thing with a man named after a state,” Marvin stated. 

“That’s it?” Mare swallowed thickly and Marvin could tell he was about to lose his internal fight. 

“That’s it.” 

“Okay…” Mare sniffed and he lifted his hand, a crushed phone in it. “Could you ask Anti or Bing and Google to see if they can fix this? Or at least make sure nothing gets lost if I need to get him a new phone?” 

“We’ll take care of it.” Marvin took the broken phone. 

“Thanks. I’m...I’m going to go to the bathroom.” Mare walked away with slumped shoulders. 

“What do you think Phantom said?” Chase asked Marvin. 

“It’s none of your damn business.” Phantom hissed and slammed his door shut. 


	12. Operation; Bad Idea

Marvin was sitting on his bed with a book in hand. RJ and CJ were not going to be getting up for the rest of the day so they decided to call it a night and wait till morning to see if they had anything else for them to use. Almost everyone had gone to bed fairly early considering their morning started several hours before the usual. 

“Marv, I figured it out!” Chase announced as he barged into the room, a towel tied loosely around his waist and another being used to dry his hair. 

“Figured what out?” Marvin used his bookmark, knowing that he wasn’t going to be reading for at least a good while. 

“Why Mare wanted to cry.” Chase realized the door was still open and closed it. “Why Mare wanted to cry.” He repeated. “I think he’s crushing on someone.” 

“That was pretty clear.” Marvin sat the book down on the bedside table. “But you spoke over who it was.” 

“We could sneak around and figure out who it is and see if we can help.” Chase threw his hair towel at Marvin and walked over to the dresser. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Marvin tossed the towel aside. “What if we’re wrong? The last time something like that happened, you got slapped and Dark was thrown into a wall.” 

“We’re not Dark, we can recognize emotions.” Chase took off his towel and dropped it on the bed. 

“How long did it take for us to realize we liked each other?” Marvin pushed the towel off, he was not going to had a wet bed. 

“That’s different. It’s easier to see it on other people when you’re not biased.” Chase took out a pair of PJ bottoms from the drawers and slipped them on. “And admit it-” Chase spun on his heel. “-you’re dying to know who the crush is.” 

“Maybe.” Marvin chuckled as Chase crawled on the bed towards him. “There’s also a very high chance he likes on of us or the Ipliers and I want to make sure our kids are okay.” 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Chase pressed a few kisses on Marvin’s neck. 

“Want to know what would help me sleep?”

“Hm?”

“You cleaning up your towels.” 

x~x~x

Chase thought he was the first one up, heading to the living room to see if anything needed to be picked up before starting breakfast and wasn’t expecting to see Mad, Mare, and Jackie already in there. The three of them all sitting on one of the couches together with Jackie in the middle. An idea popped into his head and he stayed at the entrance. It looks like he was starting his observations sooner than expected. 

“That is a terrible idea.” Mare scoffed. “Do you know how dangerous that is?” 

“I worked last time-”

“Exactly, it worked last time.” Mare cut Jackie off. “Which means, like hell, it’ll work again.” 

“I just need to get a knife in her head,” Jackie said. “I just need to get close enough.” 

“Are you going to be able to do that?” Mad asked. “Getting her the first time nearly shattered you.” 

“I need to do what’s best for my family.” 

“By getting yourself killed?” 

“Listen,” Mare held a finger towards Jackie. “You are now allowed to go out and something that fucking stupid,” He kept going when Jackie tried to say something. “You are not allowed to get hurt, got it?” 

“But I-”

“Got it?” 

Chase had caught how intense Mare was, how there was worry behind his voice and he was also thankful that Mare and Mad were making sure Jackie stayed safe. 

“Fine.” Jackie titled his head down. Mare leaned so that he was making Jackie look at him.

“Good,” Mare said. Chase took a few notes in his head about that interaction before stepping into the room. 

“Morning guys,” Chase said. “What we talking about?” 

“Nothing.” Mare stood up. 

“Do you want to help me make breakfast?” Chase saw that Mad and Jackie were whispering to each other and he was able to just barely catch a certain kind of smile from Jackie before Mare stepped and blocked his view. 

“Sure, I believe I finally have those ‘cooking rules’ figured out.” 

“I was thinking of just making a lot of pan-” 

“Kathryn!” A scream coming from the bedrooms stopped Chase. 

“Who’s Kathryn?” Mare asked as Jackie and Chase took off. 

“Someone close because I think I’ve just been stabbed.” Mad patted his chest, coughing a little. “I’m good, let’s go,” Mad said and they went towards the shouting. 

“Dead! She’s dead!” RJ was screaming as Dark had him and CJ in his arms. CJ was just loudly wailing. 

“There’s no body, no ink, nothing,” Marvin said, standing at the door to the room the twins had been sleeping in. Jackie was in there and still looking around.

“Something had to be in there, or they wouldn’t be this distraught,” Edward said. 

“They’re not hurt, it’s okay.” Anti was trying to keep Blank calm while Chase did the same with Robbie. 

“There’s nothing on the cameras,” Google said, eyes glowing. 

“‘Literally nothing, no change in temperature or pressure or anything.” Bing blinked and returned his eyes to normal. “All I saw were the twins freaking out suddenly. 

“They might have just had a nightmare,” Henrik suggested. “With how chaotic everything has been, it wouldn’t be surprising.”

“They don’t really have dreams,” Bim said. 

“Dreams are usually either lies or exaggerated truths and that’s not how they work.” Yandere added. “The most they get is memories.” 

“They don’t have a memory of Kathryn dying, considering she’s alive and well,” Wilford said. 

“ _ Has she been hurt before?”  _ JJ asked. “ _ Maybe remembering something bad?” _

“Then they would be saying she’s ‘hurt’, not ‘dead’,” Phantom said, Mare’s phone in his hand since him using it was part of Mare’s apology. 

“Hush, hush, it’s okay...it’s okay…” Dark’s voice had changed, getting everyone’s attention. There was a strange lulling to it as if he was singing but he only spoke. “Everything is okay...everything is fine...” CJ stopped crying and just looked at Dark while RJ lowered his voice. 

“Kathryn…” RJ sniffed. 

“Wilford, call her and let the twins talk to her,” Dark said. 

“On it.” Wilford took out his phone. “Come on, buddies, let’s ask Kathryn how her morning’s going.” Wilford ushered the twins into Dark’s room, knowing they’d feel more comfortable in there. 

“I found this.” Jackie came out of the twin’s room with a slip of paper. “It’s a bunch of numbers and it looks rushed.” 

“Me and Bing will see what we can get from this. Sometimes information is too complicated for them to get out in English or a letter language in general.” Google said, taking the page. 

“She got into their heads.” Mad suddenly said. “She finally learned it.” 

“Learned what?” Marvin asked.

“She’s a mimicker as you’ve already seen. Making creatures that take any form that she knows. She’s able to get into the top layers of people’s memories to make people but she couldn’t go deeper than that without using me as a connection.” Mad started to pick at his fingers. “I’ve...I’ve looked into all of you to get a general idea of your emotional levels and what would set you off as needed, some more in-depth than others. But since I had looked at Host a little, Alice was able to go in further and use something against him that I knew nothing about.”

“You’ve spied on our thoughts?” Yandere asked.

“The first time I met some of you, that’s what I was doing, when I was calling out your fears and whatnot...sorry about that.” Mad added the last part softly. “But I haven’t looked at the twins since, by the time I’ve really met them, there was no need for me to have that information.”

“Alice got to them on her own.” Mare sighed.

“She gave them a nightmare, a very, very real feeling nightmare.” Mad was visibly uncomfortable, the strong range of emotions around him twisting his stomach. Mare moved so he was able to place a hand on Mad’s back without the other’s seeing, rubbing some calming circles. Jackie was more obvious and he placed a few pats on Mad’s shoulders. Mare made a face that Chase was able to read and it made something click in his head. 

“I hope none of you were hoping to catch her and keep her alive.” Dark cracked his head and his voice dropped painfully low. “Because I will make sure she never breathes again.” 


	13. Glitched

Marvin was washing the dishes from ‘brunch’, it was too late in the day to call it breakfast but it wasn’t really lunchtime, so they just had a large meal anyway. 

“So, I think I have it figured out,” Chase said, coming up next to Marvin and drying the cleaned dishes. 

“It hasn’t even been a whole day.” Marvin was unaffected by Chase’s sudden appearance. 

“Mare’s just as disastrous as the rest of them and I could see it loud and clear,” Chase said. 

“What’s your conclusion then?” Marvin chuckled.

“Mare likes Jackie.” The confidence in Chase’s voice and what he said threw Marvin off. 

“Jackie? Our Jackie?” Marvin stopped scrubbing to look at Chase. “What makes you think that?” 

“When I got up this morning; Mad, Mare, and Jackie were in the living room already. Quick note, Jackie wants to stab Alice in the head and they convinced him not to take off to do that.” 

“He wants to what!?” Marvin almost dropped the plate in his hands. 

“I already talked to him while you guys were cooking and he’s not going to take off on his own, he knows better than that.”

“I don’t think my heart could handle one of my boys going off like that again.” Marvin went back to scrubbing. 

“I think that is what’s making him stay. He wants the best for the family and him taking off would hurt us.” Chase started a second stack of plates so they didn’t get too high. “So, when Mare was telling Jackie not to go, he was very stern about it.” 

“He seems like a stern person in general. Gives off a little bit of a Dark vibe.” Marvin said. “But that might be a demon thing...no...Phantom’s just loud, more of an Anti vibe for him.” 

“You’re getting distracted,” Chase said with a little chuckle.

“Too much is happening at one time to keep track,” Marvin said. “Anyway, so Mare didn’t want Jackie to leave? That just sounds smart.” 

“But he sounded worried when he was telling Jackie not to get hurt, like that thought hurt himself.” Chase traded towel when his current one got too wet to use properly. 

“Mare can’t be empathetic?” 

“We’ve seen him deal with others in bad situations, he cares but it’s never affected him like that.” 

“Sympathy.” Marvin chewed on the inside of his cheek. 

“It’s not hard to believe that a sympathetic person can be empathic for someone they have something for.” Chase checked over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone. “And when Mad was getting worked up and Jackie gave him the pat on the shoulder, Mare made a face.” 

“A face?” 

“A jealous face.” 

“Jealous that Jackie was touching Mad?” Marvin had found he was lowering his voice. 

“And I think Jackie might have a thing for Mad.” Chase was now whispering as well. 

“I think Mad likes Jackie.” Marvin leaned a little towards Chase. 

“They’re always together, they’re blushing messes and I caught Jackie his doe-eyes at Mad.”

“His doe-eyes?” Marvin actually gasped. “Holy shit.” 

“Right?” Chase was no longer drying. “Mare likes Jackie and Jackie like Mad and Mad likes Jackie but Mare cares for Mad cause, well, family and this is the most complicated triangle I’ve seen in a while.” 

“What are you two gossiping about?” Anti asked, walking into the kitchen with two mugs in his hands 

“We aren’t gossiping.” Chase protested.

“So you’re whispering close to each other during a normal conversation?” Anti clicked her tongue. “Sounds like gossiping to me.”

“It’s about you and Dark being too loud at night,” Marvin said.

“We-We aren’t-uh-” Anti stammered.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, Anti. I know you and Host have been switching rooms. You’re lucky Robbie’s a heavy sleeper.” Marvin watched Anti’s face flush and he stumbled over words more before puffing out his cheeks. 

“Maybe,” Anti muttered. 

“Did you need something?” Chase asked.

“I was gonna get me and Dark some more tea,” Anti said.

“Don’t let us stop you.” Chase chuckled and Anti stuck his tongue out at him.

“We tease cause we love you.” 

“Nyah.” Anti blew a raspberry as he went to the kettle. “Love you guys too.” He added in a softer voice. 

“Aw, he loves us.” Marvin giggled. 

“Don’t ruin the moment,” Anti whined and filled up the mugs. Chase and Marvin just laughed as Anti left. Google and Bing had the attention of the room and Anti sat down next to Dark after handing him his mug. Dark gave a quick smile of thanks.

“We believe it’s an address, but we’re still cracking the code,” Google said. “They’re very good at keeping things cryptid.” 

“I think I’m starting to get it,” Bing said, one hand in the air as if typing on an invisible keyboard. He was laying sideways on the couch with his head in Google’s lap. “If we move the numbers like this and add two we-w-w-we-” Bing visibly glitched. 

“I thought only I could do that,” Anti said. 

“Bing, are you okay?” Google asked.

“I-I-can-can’t-” Bing glitched again and fell off of the couch. 

“Bing!” Google went down next to Bing. “Bing, Bing, say something!” Google tried to hold Bing still but he kept glitching and shaking and a harsh straining sound come from within him. 

“Vi-Vi-Viru-Virus.” Bing got out. 

“From what?” Google was panicking and preventing him from thinking in his usual rational way. 

“I’m going in.” Anti put down his tea. 

“Going in!? You just recovered! Anti!” Dark shouted as Anti became a collection of green pixels and flew into Bing. 

“No, no, no!” Mare held Blank but couldn’t anymore when Blank became pixels as well and followed Anti in. 

Anti could physically feel that something was fighting against Bing’s code as he swam through it. It was mostly orange with numbers and letters flowing in one direction. Anti saw little specks of black in the coding, telling him where the problems were and the deeper he went, the darker it got. Anti knew he should easily be able to find what was fighting Bing’s code, he just had to find the outlier. 

“Lookie here.” Anti found a difference in the code and it was the note the twins had written, it was Bing’s memory version of it. Anti kept a hold of it just in case the invading virus tried to mess with it. Anti tensed when he saw something in the distance. He knew that shape. “Blank?” Anti swam up to the figure. “Did you follow-”

“Anti!” Blank’s voice came from behind him and Anti watched as the fake Blank perk up and blew past him and towards the real Blank. 

“No!” Anti took off and tried to catch up to the fake Blank, knowing that was causing Bing’s glitching, that was the virus and he was going to stop it. Blank let out a shout and tried to swim away but the fake was much faster and caught him. Anti swam as fast as he could but he wasn’t fast enough. The fake and Blank were both gone and he went through nothing. “Shit, shit...shit!” Anti screamed when a wave of black hit him and shoved him away. 

Anti was forced out of Bing’s code and he landed harshly back on the living room floor, body aching from the sudden shift in forms. 

“Anti!” Dark went to Anti as Marvin and Chase swooped in. 

“What were you doing!? What were you thinking!?” Marvin scolded. 

“You are in no shape to be doing that!” Chase added.

“It’s...out.” Bing was panting and leaning against Google, unable to stay up on his own. 

“Where’s Blank!? Where is he!?” Mare demanded. Anti uncrumpled the sheet of coding and saw it was coated with ink and what wasn’t covered made the words

_ Lucky Shot _

“Shit!” Anti cursed. “She got him!” 

“Don’t fuck with me! Where is he!?” Mare shouted and was about to go up to Anti, but Phantom caught his arm and kept him back. “Where is he!?” Mad had stiffened and was trembling a little as he tried to control his own emotions and deal with the others. 

“Do you need your inhaler?” Jackie asked in a whisper and Mad just nodded, knowing it was better to have it near just in case. Jackie went up to Mare and reached into his pocket, taking the inhaler and going back to Mad. Mare looked at Jackie and Mad with wide-eyes as Jackie used what he had seen Mare do to help calm Mad down. 

“We have to find him now.” Anti struggled to his feet, despite Dark, Chase, and Marvin’s protests. “Bing, you said you were almost done, right?” Anti held the sheet towards him. “Cna you get-”

“No!” Bing jerked himself away from Anti and Google had to make sure he didn’t fall over. “Get that away!” 

“It’s corrupted, there’s nothing he can do,” Google said, using his body to shield Bing. 

“Then you finish it,” Anti said.

“I can’t, I’ll risk my own coding and I can’t do that to Bing.” 

“We have to find him! These damn numbers are all we got!” 

“I can do it.” Everyone looked at Mad, who paused to use his inhaler. “If it’s a code, a puzzle of sorts, I think I can solve it.” 

“You better be fast at it,” Anti said with a sniff. 


	14. Long Night

Blank landed on his hands and knees, grimacing when he felt something thick and gooey seep through his finger and soak his jeans. It was ink, It was way too much ink. 

“You really can’t do anything for yourself, can you?” Alice scoffed behind Blank. 

“Alice?” Blank tried to get up, but he was knocked over to his side, covering him in more of the ink. 

“You’re weak and childish.” Alice’s footsteps splashed in the layer of ink, walking as if it was just water. 

“Alice, stop.” Blank pulled at the ink and it yanked him back down. Blank started coughing when some of the ink got into his mouth, the taste bitter and strong. 

“What is it about you that makes you better?” Alice laughed in disbelief. “You cry at everything, you can barely take two steps without tripping on your own feet, fucking breathing could probably bruise you since your skin is thinner than paper.” 

“Alice…” Blank wiggled an arm out of the ink. He wanted to cry because of her harsh words, but he didn’t. 

“I don’t get it! I just don’t get it!” Alice shouted in frustration. “I’m stronger and older and everything and yet you’re the favorite! What do you do!?” 

“I don’t...I don’t know.” Blank croaked, sitting up a little and trying to find Alice. 

“Exactly! You don’t know! You don’t know anything!” There was a high-pitched sound as something flew past Blank’s head. “You are a literal Virus! It only took me a day of concentration to be able to do what you do! I went into an android’s code, corrupted his memory and processing system but for some damned reason he chose you!” Alice went silent for a moment and Blank managed to get to his knees. 

“Alice, Alice stop.” Blank sniffed. “You don’t have to.” 

“I don’t have to?” Alice repeated, following it with a laugh. “I don’t have to!? I don’t have a choice! You know who created us, you know who we take after!” Alice was suddenly right behind Blank and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “He’s a bad man, Blank.” 

“Stop.” Blank turned and saw no one there, just more ink. 

“Is it honestly that hard to give your ‘daughter’ some attention. Some affection, a simple ‘good job, Alice’ was all it would fucking take!” Alice made a splashing sound. “He did do that though, he did that before  _ you  _ came around.” 

“Just stop Alice, just stop.” Blank was now begging. He didn’t want her to get hurt, he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He just wanted to go home. 

“No. I will not stop.” Alice was now standing in front of Blank, no longer hiding. 

“Alice, please.” Blank got his other hand out and only his legs were trapped.

“This is your fault, Blank.” Alice’s voice dropped as she stared down at her ‘little brother’. 

“I-I didn’t-” Blank’s own voice got caught in his throat, tears coming back and threatening to fall.

“It’s all your fault, you could have stopped this.” Alice chuckled. “You could have done something long ago, but no, you didn’t. You couldn’t.” 

“No...no…” Blank pressed his hands over his ears. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” 

“You’re small and pathetic. You run away at the sign of trouble. You curl up and cry like you’re about to do now.” Blank could feel his markings beginning to buzz. “You’re going to hide and let everything happen like you always do.” Blank wanted her to stop. She needed to stop. “I’m going to kill them, Blank. I’m going to kill them and it’s all your fault.”

“Shut up!” Blank screamed and threw his hands towards Alice, a bright blue light coming from his palms and blasting into Alice’s face. 

Alice screamed in agony and threw her own hand out, the ink becoming a wave and sending Blank flying into a wall. Blank tried to get up but the ink that was now fully coating him kept him down. Only his face was clear and he could feel the ink slowly seeping into him, absorbing what they could and making his body weaker and weaker with each breath.

“I’m going to take everything I need from you and by the time they find us, you’ll be dead.” 

x~x~x

Chase woke in the middle of the night with a groan, his bladder being the reason for it. He grunted as he rolled off the bed. Chase yawned, grabbed a hidden gun, and went for the door, pausing when he hard someone talking right when he opened it. 

“What are you doing up?” Chase peeked through the crack and saw that Mare and Jackie were standing in front of the room Jackie and Mad have been sharing. 

“I had to pee,” Jackie stated.

“You went on your own, without any weapons?” Mare pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“You’re up alone too.” 

“Phantom still isn’t in the best of moods with me and waking him up to make sure Mad’s asleep isn’t going to help.” 

“He clunked out at his desk a little bit ago.” Jackie gestured with a thumb at the door and Mare looked at it.

“Is he in bed?” Mare asked.

“I put him in there.”

“Is his head propped?”

“Yes.”

“His inhaler next to him?”

“Yes.”

“Is-”

“Whatever you’re about to say, assume the answer is yes.” There was a long and awkward pause before Mare spoke again. 

“You’ve gotten to know him a lot, haven’t you?” Mare asked.

“Yeah, he’s been helping me a lot with everything and it’s...nice.” Jackie scratched his shoulder. “He’s...he’s a good guy.”

“I know.” Mare sniffed and took a deep breath. “I need you to do me a favor.” 

“A favor?” Jackie titled his head. 

“I…” Mare chewed on his lip, clearly struggling. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t...if you...if you weren’t with Mad.” 

“What?” Jackie said out loud and Chase mouthed it. Chase thinking that Mare was choosing a weird time and place for this. 

“Chase?” Marvin’s voice got Chase to pull away from the conversation for a bit.

“Don’t be...don’t be with him.”

“Excuse me?”

“If you can’t do that then at least go slow.” Mare was staring at the ground. “Don’t rush or push or do anything stupid.” 

“What are you talking about?”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about. I’m not stupid for fuck’s sake.” Mare scoffed. “I see how you look at Mad, how you are around him and I’m being selfish for asking for this because I don’t want to see Mad get hurt.” 

“I’m not going to hurt him,” Jackie said.

“If you get hurt, it’ll break him.” Mare hissed. Chase and Marvin both at the door at the end of his sentence. “You’re not allowed to get hurt.” 

“I’m not going to get hurt.”

“You can’t, alright?”

“Okay. I get it.”

“Good.” 

“I’m going to bed.” Jackie opened the door and went into the room, leaving Mare alone in the hallway. 

Mare took a few shaky breaths and he pressed his back against the wall, tilting his head up and slowly sliding down. He sat on the ground, clenching and unclenching his hands a few times. Mare’s body trembled as he tried to hold back, tried to keep calm but he couldn’t. He fully collapsed and covered his face, sobbing hard enough to make his body jerk. 

Chase slowly closed the door, swallowing and blinking a few times. He looked at Marvin who had his hands over his mouth. 

“I should talk to him tomorrow.” 


	15. Not Him

Mad was kneeling on the couch with the laptop in front of him, this being the third different position in the past twenty minutes. Mare was sitting on the same couch, watching Mare while Jackie was laying on the other couch, scrolling through his phone. 

“Hey, Mare?” Chase stood at the entrance to the room “Can I talk with you?” 

“Sure,” Mare said without looking away from Mad. He waited for a moment before finally getting up and stepping out of the room with Chase. “What do you need?” Mare asked when Chase stopped them halfway down the hallway.

“I know of a certain problem you’re having,” Chase said, thinking that maybe he shouldn’t start so vaguely when Mare made a face at him. 

“A certain problem?” Mare crossed his arms. 

“I know about your crush.” Chase watched as Mare’s eyes went wide and his arms dropped. 

“You know? How?” Mare glanced over his shoulder, back to the living room.

“I’m not blind.” Chase chuckled before dropping down in a mew serious tone. “I heard you guys in the hall last night.”

“What is with you and eavesdropping?” Mare scoffed. 

“The first time was Marvin’s idea and the second time was accidental...at first.” Chase rubbed his neck. “But I get that what’s happening between Mad and Jackie is upsetting for you.”

“It’s not about me.” Mare leaned his shoulder against the wall. 

“It’s about him.” Chase saw Mare nod a little. “You just want what’s best for him and for him not to get hurt after everything he’s been through.”

“Do you have a point?” Mare had crossed his arms again, using them to hug himself. 

“I can see why you like him, he’s a good man.” 

“You barely know him.” Mare’s comment confused Chase. 

“He’s one of my boys.” 

“You’re quick to give that title.”

“I’ve known him for five years.” 

“You haven’t known us that long.” 

“Us? I’m talking about Jackie.” Chase felt the shift in the air when he said that name. 

“Jackie?” Mare was standing straight up. 

“Yes, don’t you have a crush on Jackie?” Chase yelped when Mare suddenly thumped him upside the head. 

“I. Do. Not. Like. Jackie,” Mare said through gritted teeth and stormed off. 

“Marv? Marv, honey, I think I made an error in my conclusion.” Chase groaned and stumbled towards his room.

x~x~x

Jackie watched as Mare left the room, rolling over and looking at Mad when he heard a grunt. Mad had flopped backward and was laying on the ground, looking up at the ceiling. Jackie moved so he was sitting properly on the couch and Mad flipped over so he was on his stomach. Mad tucked his knees under him and stretched his arms out, groaning as he stretched. 

“You look like a cat.” Jackie chuckled. 

“Choke on a dick,” Mad said with his own little laugh. 

“Could the dick buy me dinner first?” Jackie asked, both of them laughing at that. 

“I think after this program finishes processing I might have it.” Mad got to his feet and stretched again, back popping a little as he leaned back. “I’m too young for my bones to be sounding like that.” 

“Age has nothing to do with loud bones.” Jackie got up and cracked his own back, the sound practically echoing. 

“What in the world?” Mad went over to Jackie and looked over to make sure his spine wasn’t broken. “Maybe I should look more into human anatomy. Although your body goes beyond a normal human’s abilities due to your strength and agility. Perhaps the exaggeration comes from stronger bones or…” Mad stopped when he realized he was rambling. “Sorry.” 

“Sorry?” 

“I...I was getting caught up in my head.” Mad took a step back, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “Phantom calls it ‘crazy-nerd mode’ when it gets intense. It’s when I really get into something and I lose myself in the thought. I hyper fixate on that thought and practically become a different person since I don’t care about consequences or anything. The first time you met me, I was in that zone.” 

“That explains the change,” Jackie said. “I bet that messes with your other ability, that emotional feeling thing.” 

“It’s actually a nightmare having that ability sometimes.” Mad admitted. “I can feel what everyone is feeling and when there are too many variant emotions at the same time, it gets overwhelming and when it’s a lot of one feeling that I didn’t cause, it’s the same thing.” 

“And the inhaler helps you.” 

“Yeah. And...and sometimes when there’s a lot of the same emotion, I can’t tell if I’m actually feeling it for myself or if it’s just everyone around me. There’s a lot of affection and care and...love around here that I...I can’t tell if…” Mad swallowed and looked at Jackie, cheeks flushing. “How much of it is me when I look at you.” 

“You...” Jackie moved just a little closer to Mad. “You...uh...like me?” 

“Y-You’re...strong and brave a-and sweet and...I…” Mad’s voice got stuck in his throat. Jackie stared at Mad and the two were in silence for a good moment. Jackie didn’t have words at the moment, so he decided to move. Jackie placed his hands on Mad’s face and pulled him into a kiss. 

Mad almost gasped from shock and he waited for that rush he knows he should feel. The flutter in the stomach like Marvin, or the pleasant pressure in the chest like Dark, or the warmth that makes its way down the spine like Bing or...or something...anything. 

Was he doing this wrong? Were his hands in the wrong place? Did his mouth not work? 

Jackie parted the kiss and he was just staring at Mad again. Mad felt that change. He felt the sorrow, the fear, and the anger. 

“I’m...I’m so sorry,” Jackie whispered.

“Sorry…” Mad echoed as his sight went fuzzy. 

“I thought...I could have sworn…” Jackie lowered his hands. “You’re-You’re nice to me. You’ve been-you’ve been helping and-and I…” Jackie had tears forming in his eyes. Mad slowly blinked and his fingers were numb. “You’re great-you’re-you’re a great guy…” Mad couldn’t feel his arms anymore, the numbness crawling into his chest and up his throat. “You’re nice and funny and so damn smart and I…” Mad blinked and could something roll down his cheeks, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He wasn’t sure what anything was. “I thought that I did-that I was-that…” Jackie finally moved away from Mad, fully crying. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-I-I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay.” Mad’s voice came out on its own. “I understand.” 

“Mad...you-I-I...I’m sorry,” Jackie said one more time, dropping his head and walking away. He stopped when he saw Mare at the entrance and with the look on his face, he’d been there for a while. Jackie remembered their talk last night, how worked up Mare had been, how he did not want Mad to get hurt and it finally hit Jackie that he was doing that despite it hurting himself. Jackie kept his head down and continued walking. 

“Idiot,” Mare growled when Jackie was close enough. Jackie didn’t respond and left, not looking back. Mare went to Mad, pulling an inhaler from his pocket. “Mad, Mad, it’s me. It’s Mare.” Mare spoke softly and slowly. “I’m going to touch you, okay?” Mad barely nodded, but it was enough. Mare placed a hand on Mad’s back and held the inhaler to his lips, watching his breathing to time it right. Mare knew that Mad was breathing fine, but the familiar stimulus would help ground him. “Mad? Are you here?” 

“I’m fine,” Mad said, eyes drifting down. 

“You don’t have to be. You can cry. It’s okay.” 

“I don’t...I don’t...I-” Mad’s lower lip trembled. “I-” Mad’s body finally give in and he collapsed, Mare catching him before he hit the ground. 

“I got you, don’t worry, I got you,” Mare said as Mad cried into his chest. 


	16. No Rest

“I bet you’re happy,” Phantom said, looking at the sleeping Mad on the bed, Mare sitting in a chair next to him. “I mean, not about the whole heart-break shut down thing...but...like...they don’t like each other.” Mare didn’t say anything and he hasn’t since telling Phantom what happened after carrying Mad into the room. “He’s going to be okay...right? I mean, I don’t uh...I…” Phantom felt the phone buzz against his chest, he glanced at it before sighing. “Let me know if I can do anything. I don’t...I don’t like seeing you guys hurt like this.” 

“I’m sorry.” Mare finally spoke again, looking at Phantom. “I’m sorry for getting into your private business and breaking your phone and-”

“You already apologized,” Phantom said. 

“I’m sorry for lashing out because you were right.” Mare’s admission made Phantom let out a little sound of surprise. “I’m upset that Mad likes Jackie and not me. That they were getting so close in such a short amount of time compared to the years I’ve known him, that I’ve cared for him, that I’ve…” Mare stopped himself and sniffed. 

“It’s fine.” Phantom chewed on his lip. “I’m…” Phantom made a face before sighing and speaking quickly. “I’m sorry for bringing it up when I knew it’s a soft spot.” 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you apologize.” Mare chuckled. 

“Don’t get used to it.” Phantom rocked on his feet. “I’m...I’m going to go see what the others are doing.” 

“You’re going to call Illinois.” Mare corrected with a little smirk.

“Shut up,” Phantom muttered, his cheeks flushing. 

“Let him know if he does anything stupid, that I’ll kill him slowly,” Mare said.

“That message has been made loud and clear several times.” Phantom looked at the phone again. “I’ll delete everything before I give the phone back.” 

“You don’t want me to see the dick pics?” 

“There are not!” Phantom was now bright red. “Shut up!” He left in a huff while Mare laughed, it slowly fading as he looked at Mad again. 

“I’ll take care of this, Mad. I’ll get Blank back, I’ll get rid of Alice, I’ll get us a nice new home with plenty of room to work and play and…” Mare tilted his head up, looking at the ceiling. “Our own bedrooms with no need to always be...together.” Mare closed his eye, suddenly very tired. “Maybe I’ll...design it a little...different…” Mare drifted off. 

“I took you this long to finally get it?” A voice snapped Mare conscious. He jerked up and was unable to move, ink holding his arms and body to the chair. 

“Alice? Alice!” Mare shouted when Alice was standing in the corner of the room. 

“I thought you were smarter than that.” Alice scoffed, crossing her arms. “But it’s taken you, what, ten years to realize you like Mad?” 

“Let me go, now,” Mare demanded.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.” Alice twirled her hand around, ink coating it and becoming a sharp point. A blade of sorts “You destroyed your chance long ago.” 

“Where’s Blank?”

“You won’t need to worry about him for too much longer.” 

“What does that mean?” Mare didn’t get a response since Alice only laughed. “You can stop this, it’s not too late.” 

“I know I just said you were stupid, but you and I both know you’re not that dumb.” Alice slowly walked towards Mare. “It is too late, far past too late and there’s only one thing that’ll stop all of this.” Alice was now next to the bed, holding her arm in the air and aiming the blade at Mad’s chest, right at his heart. 

“Alice! Alice, don’t! Don’t!” Mare strained to move, he should be able to break through the ink, he should, but why was it so strong?

“Either I kill all of you or you kill me. No other choice.” Alice giggled and grinned. “Come find me, dad.” Alice plunged her blade down.

“No!” Mare jerked forward and stumbled out of the chair, the slap of reality hitting him hard and making him dizzy. “Wh-What?” Mare looked around and saw nothing. He checked Mad and there was nothing as well. He was fine, he was safe. “She…” Mare felt his stomach churn at the realization. “She gave me a nightmare...how?” Mare wasn’t much time to think before there was a scream, followed by several gunshots. 

x~x~x

“Everyone was probably hit with exhaustion when Mad passed out,” Phantom said to Dark, the two standing in the living room, surrounded by sleeping Septiceyes and Ipliers. They were only missing Chase, Marvin, Mare, and Mad. “Me and Mare are used to it and I can see it’s buggin’ you but you’re too much of a hardass to give in.” 

“So they’re just napping?” Dark asked. 

“Yeah. Hell, they’ll probably feel better when they wake up with how shitty Alice has been making the past few nights.” Phantom started texting. 

“She might be using a lack of sleep and the inconsistent pattern…” Dark trailed off when Phantom was clearly not listening and caught up in his phone, chuckling at something before typing away again. “Could that wait?” 

“Nope.” Phantom popped the ‘p’.

“I’m sure your boyfriend is patient.” Dark grinned when he saw the look Phantom made at the word ‘boyfriend’.

“Listen here you mother fu-” Phantom was stopped short by JJ rolling off of the couch. “Dude?” JJ sprang up, one hand on his throat and his eyes staring wide at something.

“JJ, are you...okay?” Dark saw a figure standing at the edge of the room. A young woman with a large smile was staring directly at JJ, a hand slowly traveling up to her mouth. The woman laughed before slamming her palm against her face and forcing her head back, a loud, sickening crack echoing from it.

“ _ Mom!”  _ JJ signed, jabbing at his own chin and falling to his knees. 

“Get JJ, I’ll take care of the woman,” Dark ordered.

“I think the woman took care of herself.” Phantom scoffed, bouncing to the side when something was thrown at him. 

“Get up!” A new woman had appeared behind them, her scream waking up almost everyone. Bim and Yandere were the only ones still down Henrik stumbling away when he saw the new woman. 

“H-How did she find…” Henrik was shaking. 

“Is that? The fuck?” Edward moved in front of Henrik. “Why is your ex-wife here?” 

“She’s not. Cover his eyes and I’ll take care of her.” Dark reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. 

“There’s more ink!” Phantom pointed at ink pooling from the walls, more people being formed form it as Bim and Yandere woke up. 

“Mom...dad…” Yandere’s face went pale.

“There’s our little boy!” The man cooed. 

“Still obsessed with me?” A different man said in a mocking tone to Bim. 

“JJ, JJ, I’m right here, it’s okay, JJ.” Wilford was holding a sobbing JJ. “Dark! Do something!” 

“I am!” Dark snapped. “Anti, Jackie, get Yandere’s. Phantom, get Bim’s. I’ll take care of JJ’s.” Right when Dark finished, they jumped into action. The people weren’t strong, they didn’t even fight back as they were easily killed. A simple stab to the head and they went down. They weren’t here to kill, they were just here to upset. 

“Why waste her time and energy on this?” Anti scoffed, kicking the body he had killed away from him, it splashing at the contact and flicking ink on his face. “All she did was make a mess.” 

“She’s getting impatient,” Phantom said. “She’s trying to make a point and throw most of us all.”

“Dead parent, cruel parents, ex-wife, and a dick-head.” Jackie listed off, trying to connect all of them. 

“She wanted to break their hearts,” Dark said. “She went more personal rather than violent. Like what she did with the twins.” 

“It still doesn’t-” Anti stiffened when there was a scream. “Mavin?” A gunshot went off. “No!” Anti took off.


	17. No Regret

Mad was conscious but he wasn’t awake. At first, he wasn’t sure where he was or why he couldn’t move. 

“Really? Mare’s bed?” Alice scoffed as she sat on the edge of the bed, Mad barely able to see her. “Both are you are too stupid to be smart.”

“Why can’t I move?” Mad asked.

“You’re asleep and you’re emotional breakdown has paralyzed you,” Alice answered with a shrug. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Waiting for the show to finish.” Alice swung her legs. “Got a couple of hearts to shatter.” 

“Why are you doing this?” 

“Does it really matter? Do you really care? Clearly you don’t care since you were more than willing to get with my ex.” Alice flashed a glare at Mad

“I-” Mad stopped when Alice started laughing, the glare instantly going away.

“Nah, it’s fine. I didn’t really like him anyway. But, you have to admit, he’s pretty handsome.” Alice giggled. “Strong, caring, smart but a dumbass, sound familiar?” 

“Sounds like everyone in this building,” Mare said, knowing there wasn’t anything he could do. 

“Don’t beat around the bush like that.” Alice puffed out a breath. “You two are so aware of everyone else that you’re oblivious to your own feelings.” 

“I don’t need relationship advice from you.” Mad grumbled.

“I’m just saying that you should get a quick round of fun in before I kill all of you.” Alice was giggling again. “Do you want to know something fun about what happened between you and Jackie?” 

“No,” Mad said with a straight-face. 

“It was all lies.” Alice turned towards Mad to watch his face drop. “You know how you work, how other people’s emotions can sometimes affect you. You kept feeling nothing but love and affection in here. And poor Jackie still has feelings for my trapped inside of that heart of his and when you went in there, he got confused.”

“Stop it.” Mad tried to find a way to block out Alice’s voice.

“You find it hard to believe anyone could like you like that and you thought those feelings for Jackie were for him, but they weren’t.” Alice was practically singing. “Mare likes you and you never realized. You like Mare and you never accepted it.” 

“Shut up!” Mad shouted. 

“If only you were smarter or faster or braver or anything that would have gotten you out of your head and into Mare’s arms.” Alice grinned when Mad tried to move, tried to do anything. “Go ahead and try. Go ahead and try to get some love before you die.” Alice slowly faded away.

Mad woke with a gasp, coughing when the air fought back. He heard the door close and was alone in the room. Everything felt heavy and Mad had to breathe several times before willing himself to his feet. His program had to be done, the code had to be solved now. He needed to find Alice and make her pay. 

x~x~x

Marvin reached out and felt nothing on the bed. He and chase had laid down for a quick nap. Marvin sniffed and groaned, fully waking up when he heard rummaging and cursing. 

“Chase?” Marvin rubbed his eyes.

“I can’t fucking do this anymore.” Chase was packing a suitcase, rushing around and trying to get as much as he could to fit. 

“What?” Marvin moved so he was on his knees. “What are you doing?” 

“I’m getting out of here,” Chase stated. 

“That’s not funny.” 

“I’m not joking.” 

“What?” Marvin’s voice cracked. 

“All of this is too much. I can’t do this, I can’t handle this.” Chase shut the suitcase.

“Stop that.” Marvin placed his hands on top of it. “You’re not doing that. You’re not abandoning your family, you’re not abandoning me.” 

“I have to.” Chase yanked the suitcase out from under Marvin. Marvin stared at the bed, something was wrong. Something about Chase was...off. 

“Camera settings,” Marvin said softly. He looked at Chase and swallowed thickly when Chase just looked at him with confusion. “Camera settings,” Marvin said again, in case Chase didn’t hear him. 

“What the hell are you going off about?” Chase said. “Marv-Marvin, the fuck!? Chase shouted when Marvin was suddenly pointing a gun at him. “What are you doing!?”

“Camera settings!” Marvin tried one more time. 

“Stop-” Chase didn’t finish before Marvin screamed and shot him in the head. Marvin couldn’t stop himself from crying at that action, even when he saw the ink come from the wound and the fake Chase become a puddle. 

“Chase! Chase, where are you!? Chase!” Marvin cried out. 

“Marv!” Chase fumbled out of the closet and went to Marvin wrapping his arms around him at the bedroom door was thrown open. “I got you, I got you.” Anti rushed into the room and got on the bed as well, squeezing into Chase’s arms with Marvin, Robbie following suite.

“I can guess what happened,” Dark said, seeing the ink. “Did she get you too, Chase?” 

“I...I think.” Chase rubbed Marvin’s back. “I’m used to nightmares about my kids...but that one was too real.” 

“That’s six at once.” Dark sighed.

“Seven.” Mare corrected, having rushed over from the other room. “She got me too.” 

“Who does that all leave?” 

“Myself, Phantom, technically Jackie and Mad.” Dark listed. “And speaking of Mad. Mad, where are you going?” Dark watched Mad, who was walking with his head down. 

“Wait.” Mad held a finger and went away. 

“He can’t go alone-” Mare went to go after him. 

“I think Alice already got him.” Dark caught Mare. “There was ink on his leg.” 

“That could be leftover from me.” 

“Something tells me it wasn’t.” 

“Eight, she attacked eight people at once.” Mare groaned. “How? How could she do that many?” 

“The figures weren’t strong, it was more emotional than physical,” Dark said. “Did you try to kill you or did she try to break your heart?” Mare didn’t say anything. “And I can only assume she did the same to Mad,” Dark said, knowing what the answer the silence gave. 

“She wants us to find her,” Mare said. “She says it’s either she kills us or we kill her. She wants to scare us...and it worked.” 


	18. No Shame

Mad patted his pocket to make sure the object was still there as he went into the living room, knowing they only had one and it was only for emergencies and was potentially dangerous but...he needed it, they all needed it. 

“I’ll start making some food for us,” Wilford said. JJ was being held by Wilford but JJ was holding him back, two arms wrapped around one of Wilford’s. “Some grilled cheese and popcorn and I’ll play a nice movie.” 

Mad found himself watching the moment, chest burning with what he knew was jealousy and he quickly shoved that feeling down and went to his laptop. He crouched down and saw that the program was done and after pressing enter, he was finally able to see what the numbers meant. 

It was an address. 

They found her again.

And this time they were all going to be prepared. 

“One...Two…” Mad started to slowly count out loud. 

“Wait, what’s going on?” Edward heard Mad counting.

“Four...Five...six…” 

“Care to give any context, Phantom?” Edward asked, snapping his fingers to get Phantom’s attention away from the phone. 

“What’s up?” Phantom pressed send on his text.

“Eight...Nine...”

“Oh, he’s gonna do the thing.”

“What thing!?” Edward was soon answered by Mad’s sudden laughter. 

“Of course it was an address, what else could it have been?” Mad tapped at his cheek. “I don’t get how those two managed to hide it in literally five layers of decoding systems, but they did.” Mad was bouncing a little on his feet. 

“I heard the laugh. How deep is he?” Mare asked as he came into the room; Chase, Marvin, Anti, and Robbie were behind them. Dark came in last with CJ and RJ attached to his arms. 

“I’m gonna say all the way.” Phantom shrugged and went back to texting. 

“There you two are!” Mad was gone in a puff of purple smoke and he was in front of CJ and RJ. “You are a lot smarter than people would think, you’re minds are so interesting and complicated that no one could ever comprehend beyond a basic understanding.” 

“Thank you?” RJ said. 

“Oh, is this that…hyper, thing?” Jackie asked, not reacting when Mad was now in front of him. 

“Yep, although this is a little different than when you guys met me for the first time. This is a personally induced hyper-reaction to everything happening due to extreme physical and emotional exhaustion and I need to let it run its course for a little bit before cutting it short so that I do not fully shut down for the rest of my existence.”

“Wait, this isn’t your normal-” 

“Nope.” Mad interrupted Mare and was in front of him. “It’s that emergency reaction that I’ve explained to you before.” 

“You said that wasn’t safe.” 

“It’s not.” Mad giggled and was gone again, sitting next to JJ and Wilford. “Oh! Looking at you reminded me to do something before I have no courage to do so.” Mad said when he saw JJ. He popped back over to Mare and grabbed his face, pulling him in for a kiss. 

“Holy shit!” Phantom cursed and ended up dropping the phone. 

“That’s unexpected,” Dark commented. Everyone else in the room stunned but Jackie rubbed at his neck and looked away. 

“I need to rethink my theory even more,” Chase said to Marvin. 

“Just a little,” Marvin said back. 

“Hey, there are children here,” Anti said, using his hands to cover Robbie’s eyes when Mad got a little too into the kiss. 

“Hoh, shit!” Mad laughed when he finally parted the kiss. “Is that what a kiss is supposed to feel like?” Mad popped over to Jackie. “Sorry about that.” Mad patted Jackie’s shoulder twice and was now net to JJ again. “Remember when I did that to you? That was more of a ‘let’s piss off the man who smells like candy’, so no offense when I saw I liked Mare’s more.” 

“ _ Sure it was.”  _ JJ signed with a little smile on his lips. Both Mad and Wilford laughed at that.

“Hello, Earth to Mare.” Phantom waved a wand in front of a fully stunned Mare’s face. His cheeks were bright red and it was clear he was not ready nor expecting that. 

“And I’m the one that can’t handle romance?” Dark said, looking at Wilford, who was still laughing his head off. 

“Alice is going to hate this and I love it.” Mad stood up and fumbled towards the middle of the room. “She worked so hard to fuck with us, to mess with our heads and our bodies and I’m about to ruin that...or at least as much as I can.” Mad reached into his pocket. “If this doesn’t work. At least I got to have a little bit of fun before I went.” 

“Wait, what does that mean?” Jackie asked and Mare snapped out of his trance. 

“Wait, Mad, you don’t have to.”

“Nah, I think I do.” Mad rolled his head and started to laugh again. He pulled out what looked like an EpiPen. “One, two, three!” Mad let out a shout and everyone felt a strange rush of energy hit them. Mad screamed this time and stabbed his thigh with the EpiPen. He gasped loudly and fumbled down to his knees, panting. 

“What in the fuck just happened?” Anti asked. 

“Was that an...adrenaline shot?” Henrik was patting at his chest. 

“I feel like someone just injected coffee into my veins,” Chase said. 

“Who needs espresso when you got that?” Wilford chuckled. 

“Mad!” Mare rushed over to Mad and knelt down next to him. “Hey, hey, are you okay?” 

“Never better.” Mad weakly laughed. 

“I thought you were the smart one.” Phantom scoffed. “Fuckin’ scaring us like that.”

“Aw, did you worry about me?” Mad teased. 

“I will shove my foot down your throat.” 

“At least clean them first.” 

“I have never been so thankful to hear your sarcasm.” Mare rubbed at his face. 

“No need to be dramatic,” Mad said with a soft smile. “You knew I was going to be fine.” 

“Please don’t make out again.” Anti turned Robbie away. Jackie went over to the laptop and saw the numbers and letters, recognizing them right away. 

“That’s an address,” Jackie said. “You found her.” 

“Yeah.” Mad got up and Mare got up with him. “We can get her.” 

“Let’s get ready then,” Dark stated. “And I want a full explanation for what the hell just happened.” 

“I think I can handle that,” Mad said. 


	19. Ready

“So, we all have an understanding that an EpiPen is an injection containing epinephrine, a chemical that narrows blood vessels and opens airways in the lungs. The effects of the said chemical can reverse severe low blood pressure, wheezing, severe skin itching, hives, and other symptoms of an allergic reaction.” Mad stated to a room of very confused Ipliers and Septiceyes. Bing, Google, Edward, and Henrik being the only ones that weren’t fully thrown off by what was said. 

“I’m going to say yes since JJ would have to use one if he ate peanuts,” Chase said. 

“Or Edward with cranberries,” Bim added. 

“Is you...going ‘hyper’ an allergic reaction?” Dark was still trying to put pieces together. 

“No, because the EpiPen that we use has been modified by myself so that epinephrine, while still spiking up my blood pressure, will do it to a high enough degree that my body will literally reset.” Mad snapped his fingers. “Hence why Mare said it was dangerous.”

“Reset? Like a computer?” Anti asked. “You can’t just turn a person on and off again.” 

“Mad turns people off every time he speaks,” Phantom said with a chuckle. 

“I know the passcode to that phone, I will share the dick pics.” Mad threatened, grinning when Phantom went red. 

“There are no dick pics!” Phantom snapped.

“The more you deny it, the more I believe it.” Mare clicked his tongue. Phantom just huffed and turned away from everyone, putting his full attention on the phone again. 

“What did you do to us?” Dark asked, trying to get the conversation back on track. 

“I kind of reset everyone as well,” Mad said. “I can manipulate emotional states to an extent and so I used what energy I had left to basically allow you guys to numb any sorrow you were feeling at that moment. It’s still there, and that grief will most likely come back later, weather from over time or something triggering it, but for now, you all feel fine.” 

“Normally, I’d be upset about being manipulated against my will, but I’m willing to let this slide due to what’s happening,” Dark stated. “But don’t ever do it again.” 

“Sir, yes, sir.” Mad did a mock salute. 

“Now that’s all cleared up, let’s get ready for a fight.” Chase cracked his knuckles. “Anti, Bing, Google, look up the address and see what all you can get about the area. Host, help them where you can. Bim, Yandere, I’m sorry to say I’m going to request that you stay here with Host, CJ, RJ, and Robbie. Wilford, Jack...Jackie?” Chase stopped when Jackie walked away. 

“I got him, you keep going,” Marvin said and followed Jackie. 

“Okay...uh...Wilford and JJ, start gathering weapons.” Chase went back to giving orders. “Henrik and Edward, figure out who’s coming with, who’s staying here, and get medical supplies ready. Dark, any protests?” Chase asked. 

“I think you got it covered.” Dark chuckled. 

x~x~x

Marvin walked behind Jackie, both knowing Marvin was following and Jackie went into the room, keeping the door open so Marvin could come in as well. Marvin closed the door and went over to Jackie’s bed, where Jackie was already sitting. 

“What’s going on?” Marvin asked, sitting as well. 

“I’m being selfish and I wanted to get away from everyone,” Jackie said.

“Selfish about what?” 

“Everything.” 

“Jackie, you know that’s not true.” Marvin placed a hand on Jackie’s shoulder. 

“I’m the only one that’s alone.” Jackie blurted out, using his arm to rub his nose. 

“You’re not-”

“Everyone has someone. You have Chase, Anti has Dark, JJ has Wilford, Henrik has Edward, Host has Edward too and Bing has Google and Yandere has Bim and...and…” Jackie’s voice cracked. “The twins have each other and when we get Blank back he and Robbie are good friends.” Jackie tried to blink away his ears. “And Mad now has Mare and even Phantom has someone and I’m...I’m alone.” 

“You don’t have to have someone to be happy.” 

“I’d like to have someone.” Jackie got up and started to pace. “I’d like to have someone that doesn’t end terribly. I stabbed my first ex in the heart and now I’m ready to kill her again.” Marvin stayed where he was. “And everything that happened with Mad. I was stupid enough to think that I liked him when I was being a fucking asshole and using him as a rebound.”

“You didn’t-”

“How wasn’t I!?” Jackie stepped away and rubbed his face, upset he had raised his voice towards Marvin. “I wasn’t doing it on purpose.” Jackie was now hugging himself and he went back to pacing. “I...I misunderstood my feelings and I really hope I didn’t hurt Mad that much. I think he’ll be happy with Mare with how long they’ve known each other and-and...I-” Jackie plopped down on the ground, crying into his hands. 

“It’s okay.” Marvin went down as well, holding Jackie and letting him cry into his chest. 

“I’m supposed to be strong.” Jackie’s voice was muffled. 

“You are strong,” Marvin said, rubbing circles on Jackie’s back. 

“Then why am I crying?” 

“Strong people cry all the time. There’s nothing weak about crying. Everyone has emotions and everyone has a right to feel them.” Marvin heard a soft knock on the door and ignored it. 

“But Mad said he got rid of it.” Jackie was now just curled up against Marvin. 

“Mad said he let us numb them, you’ve been holding back for too long.” Marvin peeked up when the door open and Chase slipped into the room. 

“I brought some of your favorite ice-cream.” Chase sat down on the ground, holding a bowl of dairy-free ice cream and a spoon. 

“Cherry Garcia?” Jackie asked with a sniff.” 

“Of course.” Chase handed Jackie the sweet treat and Jackie stayed in Marvin’s arms, eating the ice cream silently. 

Chase and Marvin stayed with Jackie, no longer saying anything and just letting him rest. Neither of them was surprised when he dozed off, not waking when he was carried to his bed. Marvin picked up the empty bowl with the spoon inside of it, heading to the edge of the room where Chase was. 

“How did you know to come in here with this?” Marvin asked. 

“Mad said he was hit with a wave of sorrow and I just assumed,” Chase said.

“Good guess.” Marvin glanced over at Jackie, seeing that he was still down. “What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to attack as soon as it gets dark. The time is going to be a lot different than how we all work so hopefully we’ll have surprise on our side with that.”

“We should have Jackie stay behind.” 

“You know that’s not going to happen. It’s either he goes with us with our plan or he ends up going on his own.”

“She’s going down.” Marvin’s voice was hard. “There’s nothing else we can do.” 


	20. Set

“What movie do you guys want to watch?” Yandere asked CJ, RJ, and Robbie while Bim was scrolling through Netflix on the TV. They were keeping their attention while everyone else was getting ready. Host sitting on the couch and trying to see if he could get anything before everyone left, but everything was empty. He was just as blind as everyone else and it dug a hole in the pit of his stomach. 

“Are you sure you want to go?” Henrik asked, helping Edward get a belt with a gun holster around his hips. 

“You know how to use the control panel better,” Edward said, gently tapping the gun that was now attached to him. 

“Google and Bing are here, they don’t need to have me to help,” Henrik said. 

“I...also don’t want to risk you getting hurt,” Edward muttered.

“And there’s the truth.” Henrik chuckled and kissed Edward on the cheek. “Let’s check the kit again and make sure everything is ready.” Edward just blushed and followed Henrik. 

“You look cute when you have four guns on you,” Wilford said as JJ slipped a black cap over his head to cover his bright pink hair. 

“ _ You’re always cute.”  _ JJ winked. 

“Someone’s being cheeky.” Wilford pulled JJ in, giving him a kiss. 

“Alright, save that for after the mission.” Dark rolled his eyes, handing Wilford his lucky gun 

“Oh, you know what most of us will be doing when this mission is over.” Wilford wiggled his eyebrows and got another eye roll from Dark. 

“He’s not wrong.” Chase chuckled.

“Darky~” Anti sang. “How do we look?” 

Chase and Dark both turned and Anti and Marvin were posing with a gun, both wearing tight-fitting black clothing, black boots, and had weapons covering them.

“Damn.” Chase and Dark both said. Chase started laughing and Dark cleared his throat into his hand, hiding his darkened cheeks. 

“So, it’s just an earpiece,” Bing said to Mad and Mare as Google handed them the tech. “You’ll be able to speak into it without worrying about touching it or anything. The panel controls everything.” 

“Interesting.” Mad studied the earpiece before placing it in his ear, Mare doing the same. 

“You have some very good weapons,” Mare commented. He pulled out one of the guns he had picked out and gave it another look.

“We’ve been at this for a while.” Chase chuckled. 

“I’ll call you...hello?” Phantom looked at the phone, confused. “It cut out.” 

“Probably because you’ve been on it non-stop,” Mad said. “One phone can only handle so many dick pics.” 

“You should stop thinking about my dick when you’re gonna get rammed by my brother’s later.” Phantom stuck out his tongue after saying that.

“Phantom!” Mare scolded.

“Who said he’s topping?” 

“Mad!” 

“Place your bets!” 

“Bing!” 

Jackie was apart from everyone else, wrapping his hands with boxer’s tape. He had headphones covering his ears, blasting music so he didn’t hear anyone. He needed to focus. A top on his shoulder got him to look over it and he saw Marvin. Jackie slipped the headphones off and had them rest on his shoulders, the music still able to be heard.

“You don’t have to go, you know,” Marvin said. “We can do this.” 

“I have to help. I brought her into this, I’m going to take her out.” Jackie took out his phone and stopped the music. Marvin was going to say more but was stopped.

“Are we all ready?” Dark asked, getting everyone’s attention. “Host, did you get anything for us?” 

“Host is saddened to say that he cannot see anything about the upcoming situation. All he knows is that it will not be easy and he warns everyone to be careful. Host will not be happy if anyone got hurt.” 

“We’ll try our best, Hosty-Toasty.” Wilford chuckled while Edward gave Host a pat on the back. 

“Everyone remembers the plan?” Dark waited for head nods and a couple ‘yes’s. “Good. Let’s get Blank back and take care of this stain.” Dark looked at Wilford and Wilford snapped his fingers, taking almost half of the people in the room away with a puff of pink smoke. 

As soon as they appeared at the almost torn down building, JJ went invisible and took off. Wilford and Chase pulled out suction-cup like equipment and started climbing up the wall. Mad pressed his ear and a hand against the wall. Mad knocked on the wall and nodded, stepping away from it. Phantom, Dark, and Marvin used that as a cue to go around to the front of the building. Jackie rolled his yead to cracked his knuckles before punching the wall, creating a weak point that he and Mare could hit again and create a hole. Jackie, Mare, and Anti rushed in first with Mad and Edward following. 

Everything was covered with ink. It was hard to see through the dark sludge and even harder to move through it. The hole in the ceiling was their only light source. 

Edward and Mad didn’t go far as they had entered right next to where Blank was and the other were looking around for Alice. 

“M-Mad…” Blank weakly croaked. He was coated in the ink and everything about him looked pale and dull; as if everything had been sucked out of him. 

“Get the ink off of him, it’s taking away his energy,” Mad said, his hands going to Blank’s head. 

“Anti, help us,” Edward called out. Anti quickly rushed over and took the hint of what Edward was doing and started clawing off the ink. 

“He’s literally drained,” Mad said. “He’s not going to last much longer if we don’t get him out of here and charged.” 

“I can give him some of mine,” Anti suggested. 

“We just need to get him out of this and we’ll have Wilford send him back,” Edward said. “We can’t risk you weakened right now.” 

“Nothing is happening right now. I think Alice ran like the coward she is.” Anti said in a hiss.

“She’s waiting,” Mad said. “Any second now, something is going to happen and all hell is going to break loose and Blank needs to be somewhere safe before that happens.” 

“Then let’s-” 

“Don’t shoot him!” Phantom’s scream cut Anti off and Mad almost gagged from the sudden and strong wave of fear that hit him. 


	21. Go!

“How do you know he’s not fake?” Dark asked, the barrel of his gun aiming at the face of a man he did not know. 

“Mad doesn’t know what Illinois looks like, so Alice wouldn’t either.” Phantom moved so he was between Dark and Illinois. 

“He has a point,” Marvin said as Mare and Jackie joined the small group. 

“Is this Illinois?” Mare asked with a point. 

“Yeah.” Phantom crossed his arms “Why the fuck are you here?” He asked Illinois.

“After our call got cut off you sent me a text that said to meet you here and...some other things.” Illinois took out his phone and showed Phantom it. “I figured something was up when you’re language went full one-eighty on me.” 

“That bitch!” Phantom snapped. “If she thinks that’s how that works, I am not that nee-” Phantom stopped himself when he remembered he wasn’t alone and his face went bright red. 

“What the hell is going on?” Anti asked when he glitched over, Jackie with them as well moments later. 

“Meet Phantom’s boyfriend,” Marvin said with a chuckle.

“He is not!” Phantom puffed out his cheeks. 

“Aw, you’re just as cute as I remember.” Illinois teased, placing his hand on Phantom’s chin. 

“I will bite your fingers off,” Phantom growled. 

“She’s fucking with us again,” Anti said. “She made it look like we were going to fight her, but instead she throws a new person at us. Blank needs to get back to the house and has to fully charge or he’ll…” Anti’s voice trailed off. 

“You hear that too?” Jackie asked.

“Hear wha-ah!” Illinois cried out when something stabbed through his arm. The sharp spike melted down, showing that it was ink. 

“No!” Phantom caught Illinois before he fell to the ground, knowing getting covered in the ink would only make everything worse. “Alice! Alice, you bitch!” Phantom screamed. 

“Mare!” Mad’s shout got Mare to turn and Mare was suddenly catching Blank and was thrown into a nearby wall with him in his arms. “She’s here!” 

“Wilford, get them out of here!” Dark called up and in a blink of pink, Phantom, Illinois and Blank were gone. 

“Get Mad too!” Mare pulled himself out of the ink.

“I’m not leaving!” Mad was helping Edward to his feet when he got stuck trying to get his med-kit back. 

“Now’s not the time to argue!” Dark felt the ink beneath them start to shift. “Everyone get ready!” Dark ordered as he pulled out a gun, the others following suit. Dark turned when he heard a gunshot, seeing nothing around him. 

“The ink is coming to life!” Chase called from above, firing again at a humanoid blob that was rising next to Anti. 

“Where are you, Alice!?” Mare shouted, firing at a nearby blob. “Alice!?” 

“Dark! Left!” Wilford shouted and Dark moved where he was told, the two blobs being shot down. 

“Alice!” Mare kept looking around, getting shoved from behind and falling to his hands and knees. The gun in his hand was gone when he pulled it out of the ink. Mare fumbled to get a new gun as three blobs went towards him. Jackie swept in and stabbed two of the blobs in the head by the time Mare got a gun out and fired at the third one. 

“She was behind you,” Jackie said. “Something is up, she’s hiding her face.” 

“I’d hide my face too if I was her,” Anti said, immediately firing after saying that and laughing when he heard a yelp. “Knew that would...holy shit.” Anti cursed when he saw Alice’s face. “The fuck?” 

“What did you do?” Mare asked.

“I didn’t do anything!” Alice touched her partially melted face, wincing in pain when she did. “I didn’t, but your precious Blank did and I’ll finish him off when I’m done with all of you!” Alice threw her hands out and a wave of ink swallowed Mare, Anti, and Dark. 

“Mare!” Mad tried to rush over to Mare to help but was caught by Alice and thrown into the ground. 

“Be smart and stay down.” Alice hissed. Ink started coating Mad’s arms and trapping him. Alice jerked her head to the side as a bullet whizzed by it. Alice moved her arms again and Chase was suddenly falling from the ceiling. Marvin reacted by catching Chase mid-air with magic, ink crawling up his legs, and making it harder and harder to keep his spell going as he tried lowering Chase slowly. Marvin cursed and fell over, dropping Chase the last few feet. 

Edward pulled out a gun and aimed it towards Alice, who saw his hesitation and ran over to him. She took the gun away and was about to fire it at Edward before getting tackled by something she couldn’t see. Alice threw what was on her off and JJ landed in the ink, body getting coated and now able to be seen. Alice aimed the gun again but it was shot out of her hand, making her yelp in pain. 

“Don’t you dare!” Wilford jumped down from the ceiling, landing in the ink with a shotgun-looking weapon locked and loaded on his shoulder. Wilford fired and Alice thought he was aiming for her, but he hit at her feet and the bullet popped, splashing ink in the air. Wilford dropped the shotgun and pulled out a knife, rushing at Alice. He sliced across and found he had cut air. What had she gone? 

“Payback!” Alice slashed a hardened spike of ink across Wilford’s back and knocked him over with a kick. Before Alice would do anything else, she was tackled once more but this time by Jackie. 

Jackie sat on Alice’s chest and had his hands around her throat, her face covered by the ink and bubbles coming up. The bubbles stopped for just a second before it was splashed at him and into his eyes. Jackie fumbled back and tried to scrub the ink away, getting thrown aside and feeling the ink starting to cover him. Jackie felt that feeling of being invaded again, how it clung to his heart, and dragged him further and further down, forcing him to cry out as he tried to resist its pull. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream forever, he wanted to get away. 

Alice gasped as she sat up, hand rubbing her neck and only geiting a moment to catch her breath before having to roll out of the way. Dark had gotten out of the ink and was firing at her. 

“Best for last.” Alice covered her face with her arms and was gone again. 

“Quit hiding!” Dark shouted, shooting towards where Alice had been. 

“I should say the same to you.” A voice chuckled behind Dark. A voice that made Dark go still. Dark slowly turned around and dropped his gun in shock. 

“Mark…” 

“Are you just going to stand there looking at me or are you going to do something?”


	22. Help

Dark stared at the man in front of him, his entire body going numb. There was no possible way that he was there. It wouldn’t make sense. It can’t be. 

How, how,  _ how?  _

Dark’s mind was screaming at him that it wasn’t that...thing. It wasn’t, everything about him was wrong. The eyes weren’t the correct shape, the robe was the wrong shade of red, the hair was parted the wrong way. It was not him.

But it still scared him. 

“You keep staring, should I pose and give you a better view?” The man, ‘Mark’, chuckled, popping out a hip and placing a hand on his chest. “How’s this?” 

“I can’t-I can’t go.” Wilford was trying to pull himself out of the ink, JJ kneeling next to him, no longer using his power and fully visible. Edward was with them and doing his best to patch up Wilford’s back. “Dark! Dark!” Wilford cried out. “It’s not him! It’s not him!” Wilford wasn’t sure if he was saying the for Dark or for himself. 

Jackie was moving in the ink trying to get away from it but unable to get out. He found that he was next to Mad.

“Jackie!” Mad went to sit up, but couldn’t. “Jackie, help me get up, I have an idea.” 

“I...I…” Jackie was scared to touch him. Scared of doing something wrong again. 

“It’s okay, just move the ink, you don’t have to touch me,” Mad said. “Marvin!” Mad called out, hearing a grunt in response. “Marvin put your magic into the ink! Trust me!” 

“What are you trying to do?” Alice asked, appearing next to Mad and Jackie. 

“Ignore her,” Mad said to Jackie. 

“Oh, so you’re giving orders...now…” Alice swayed a little. “The hell?” She clutched at her head, too much happening at one time. 

“Did you forget that you can only take so much at a time?” Mad asked in a mocking tone. 

“What are you doing!?” Alice now had her hands over her mouth, dry heaving. She turned towards Dark, knowing that the sudden surge of energy was coming from him. 

“Does it not feel good, Alice? Having all of it hit you at once?” Mad was able to sit up. “Feeling everything at once, the pain, the sorrow, the fear. Does it hurt?” Mad was suddenly screaming. “Does it fucking hurt!?” 

“Stop it!” Alice rushed towards Dark. 

“Dark! Behind you!” Anti tried to get out of the ink as he yelled with Mare trying to help him.

“Do something…” ‘Mark’ paused with a chuckle. “Damien.” 

“No!” Dark snapped and everyone felt it. Anyone that was partially up was now knocked over. Alice almost fell over, she managed to catch herself but was now clutching her head and letting out her own scream of pain. “No!” Dark took out a new gun and started firing at ‘Mark’. “No, no, no!” Dark’s voice split into two, echoing louder and louder with each scream. “No!” 

Anti felt that the ink’s hold on him was much weaker than before and he easily pulled an arm out of it. He looked at Alice and saw she was struggling just to stand. Something was happening that he didn’t understand and he wasn’t going to waste time trying to question it. Anti stood up and jumped out of the ink, glitching out of the air and appearing behind Alice. Anti took out a knife and before Alice could even blink, the knife was in the back of her head. 

The ink was suddenly gone, freeing everyone that had been trapped. Dark squeezed the trigger of the gun several more times, nothing coming out before he collapsed to his knees. Anti went over to Dark and knelt down, not expecting for Dark to cling to him but he hugged him back immediately.

“Are we done? Was that it?” Chase asked, still sitting on the ground and Marvin was next to him. Marvin was practically half-asleep against him, having used most of his power and could barely keep his eyes open. 

“Daddy…” Alice’s voice came out in a soft croak. “Daddy...help…” Alice reached out towards Mare, who just stared at her with wide eyes. “Dad-” Alice was stopped by Jackie stomping the knife fully into the head, finishing her off for good. Jackie turned away from the now corpse and vomited. A thick, black sludge coming out of his mouth. 

“I’m fine,” Jackie said when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Mad was looking at him. Mad was going to protest but when Jackie walked away, he went to Mare instead.

“A-Alice...I-I…” Mare was trembling when Mad got to him. “I never meant...I didn’t mean...I...I just…”

“Mare.” Mad sat down in front of Mare, holding his hands out towards him, silently asking for permission. Mare knew what Mad was asking and took his hands into his own but instead of having Mad help calm him down, he pulled him into a kiss. Mad wasn’t ready for that but wasn’t complaining as he kissed Mare back. 

“The bleeding’s stopped,” Edward said, using his last clean rag to clean off the blood from Wilford’s back. “I want to give it stitches to make sure it closes properly but I don’t have any more clean supplies. We should go back and Henrik can help me check everyone over.” 

“It can wait,” Wilford grunted. He started to get up, but JJ grabbed his arm and held him down

“ _ Wilford, please,”  _ JJ’s hands were shaking as he signed. Wilford decided against saying anything and just leaned against JJ. 

“Are you able to take us back?” Edward asked. “If you’re too weak, I can see if-”

“I’m never too weak.” Wilford softly chuckled. “Tell me where everyone is, I’m a little fuzzy in the head.” 

“Anti and Dark are right in front of you, Marvin and Chase are behind, Jackie’s to the left and Mad and Mare are…” Edward made a face. “Making out to the right.” 

“They wasted no time.” Wilford patted at JJ’s hand. “We’ll get on that as soon as I get a good nap in.” JJ rolled his eyes and gave Wilford a peck on the cheek. Wilford happily hummed and snapped his fingers, sending everyone back to the headquarters. 

“You’re back!” Henrik went straight to Edward and hugged him. “What all needs done?”

“Wilford needs stitches and I haven’t been able to look at anyone else. I’ll take care of him since I know how he works.” Edward said. 

“Are you okay?” Henrik asked.

“I am now that I can see you.” Edward grinned.

“Sap.” Henrik giggled and started going around the room. 

“Gross.” Phantom stuck his tongue out towards Mad and Mare who had just now stopped kissing. Mad sniffed once and plopped his head down on Mare’s chest, instantly falling asleep.

“You’ve been saying for how long that we should get together?” Mare asked, leaning against the couch Phantom and Illinois were sitting on.

“I don’t want to see it,” Phantom said. 

“We could-” Illinois was stopped by Phantom placing a hand on his face. 

“You have a hole in your shoulder, keep it in your pants.” Phantom scoffed. 

“I’m stitched up.” Illinois pressed a kiss to Phantom’s palm. 

“Did you send dick pics to my brother?” Mare asked with a smirk of knowing what was going to happen.

“Mare, I swear to God! I will-”

“Is everything okay here?” Henrik asked, cutting Phantom’s threat off. “Is Mad okay?” 

“Medically, we’re fine. Emotionally, eh?” Mare laughed at that and it slowly died off. “But, Mad’s just asleep, too much has happened and it’s taken everything out of him.”

“We’ll work on the emotions stuff later.” Henrik tried to laugh as well but walked away when it felt awkward. "Jack-"

"I'm fine." Jackie slipped on his headphones and hid in his hoodie. Henrik hesitated before moving on.

“Is Marvin just sleeping as well?” He asked when he saw Chase and Marvin laying on the ground together. 

“Yeah, no open holes here.” Chase half-waved. Henrik smiled a little and turned his head, seeing that Anti and Dark were sitting against a wall together. Anti caught Henrik’s eyes and he gave a thumbs-up, showing that they were okay. 

“What do we do now?” Anti asked as Henrik went back over to where Edward was, seeing if he needed help with Wilford. 

“Sleep,” Dark answered in a grunt. “Forget that this ever happened.” 

“How do we forget this?” Anti took Dark’s hand and hugged it to his chest. “All of this was fucked up.” 

“You’re right...we can’t forget.” Dark adjusted himself so he was facing Anti. “But life goes on and I’m okay with that...as long as you stay here with me.” 

“You sound like you love me.” Anti giggled.

“I do.” Dark felt his cheeks flush and he didn’t care. “I love you, Anti.” 

“I love you too, you goof” Anti leaned in and pressed his and Dark’s lips together. 

“Alright, kids, who’s making dinner?” Chase asked with a laugh.


	23. Life Goes On

Jackie walked down the sidewalk with his head down, hood up, and headphones on. He stopped when he reached the crosswalk, seeing that other people were waiting as well. Jackie glanced up and for the first time in a long while, he could look at the library without it hurting. He missed going there, he missed the librarians, the shelves of books, the peace, and quiet. He missed it and being able to go back told him that he was going to be okay. 

Police sirens took Jackie out of his thought and he slipped away. Knowing that he was fine but it was better to not be seen by the police when they’re out. Jackie went into a nearby alleyway, seeing that it was a dead-end, but he should be fine here and he could get out if needed. The walls had enough sticking out of them for Jackie to climb up and get over the wall blocking him from the other street. 

Jackie leaned back against a wall and turned his music off and slipped the headphones off as well. He waited and listened to the sirens. Jackie could hear them getting closer and he hoped they would fly past the alley and not come down. He wasn’t in the mood for a run just yet. 

“Shit, shit shit.” Jackie watched as someone sprinted down the alley, stopping when they reached the wall. “Shit!” The stranger, a man about Jackie’s age, turned and looked at Jackie, jumping back and holding up his fists. Jackie raised a brow at the man. His hair was slicked down, tattoos on his neck, arms, and fingers and he wore the attire of the cities’ prisoners. “I…” The man looked over his shoulder and down the alley. “Don’t tell them I’m here, please.” The man quickly hid behind one of the dumpsters. 

“He went down here!” An officer shouted before he and two others rushed down, stopping when they saw Jackie. 

“Evening, officers.” Jackie greeted with a large, fake smile. “What can I do for you?” 

“We’re looking for an escaped convict. Have you seen anyone suspicious about?” The officer asked. 

“No sir, I’m just waiting for my mom.” Jackie pointed with a thumb towards the door that was next to him. He kept his other hand in his hoodie pocket and he pressed a hidden button inside of it, hoping the officers were too busy looking at the door to notice the movement. 

“Have you been-”

“St-Station-” The walkie talkie on the officer’s shoulder went off. 

“Hello?” The officer spoke into it.

“St-Station...back...Station…” 

“Damn thing must be breaking.” The officer scoffed. “You go back in and stay there with your mother, alright?” 

“Yes, sir.” Jackie watched as the officer tried talking into his walkie some more and he walked away with his other officers. As soon as they were gone, Jackie dropped his smile and ran his tongue over his teeth as is he had something distasteful in his mouth. 

“‘Ey, man. Thanks.” The stranger popped out, patting the cobwebs off of himself. Jackie held up a finger towards him when his phone went off. 

“I’m okay,” Jackie said to a worried Chase. “They weren’t looking for me.” Jackie flashed a grin at the stranger who just rubbed his neck. “Can you see if Wilford’s busy, I might need him soon...awesome.” Jackie hung up the phone. 

“Uh...thanks...again.” The stranger softly chuckled. “Jimmy woulda kick my ass if I got sent back after all the talkin’ he did to convince me to go.” 

“What did you do?” Jackie asked, setting up a text as he spoke. 

“What’da mean?” 

“Why were you arrested in the first place?” 

“Oh…” The man chewed on his lip before sighing. “I killed…” He waited for a reaction from Jackie and continued when he got none. “My parents.” That got Jackie to make a face. 

“Your parents?” 

“Theys weren’t good people. I had to protect myself. I was only thirteen when it happened and...yeah.” 

“You were just a kid.” Jackie sent the text. “Do you have anywhere to live?” 

“I don’t, I was just gonna figure it out as I go.” The man shrugged. 

“How well do you know the jail system?” Jackie asked, slipping off his hood. 

“Pretty damn well.” The man chuckled. 

“Any allergies?”

“Uh, no?” 

“Name’s Jackie.” 

“I’m Yancy.” 

“Heyo!” Wilford greeted loudly when he appeared. Yancy jumped away and had the same fighting pose from before. “Who’s this fellow?” 

“He’s Yancy and I think he’s fit in with us,” Jackie said. 

“Oh, fun!” Wilford clapped his hands and within the next blink, they were all at the headquarters.

Yancy swiped away the pink smoke and was not ready to be in a new area surrounded by a bunch of people moving about. 

“There’s my JJ, it’s been so long.” Wilford went straight to JJ, laughing as he scooped him up into a hug. 

“ _ It wasn’t even a minute.”  _ JJ signed with a silent giggle, being placed back down. 

“It’s always too long being away from you.” Wilford ruffled JJ’s hair. 

“I still think we need extra rooms,” Mad said as he and Mare sat on a couch with Bing and Google, all of them looking at a laptop screen. “With how we all are, it’s better to be prepared.” 

“More like you want to make sure there’s extra space between your room and everyone else’s,” Bing said in a teasing tone while Google rolled his eyes. 

“You’re not funny.” Mad scrunched his nose towards Bing. 

“But he’s not wrong.” Mare’s chuckle became a full laugh when Mad slapped his arm. 

“CJ! Don’t put that in your mouth!” Dark ran across the room after the twins, the two carrying a collection of rocks and sticks they had found. “RJ!” 

“I should probably help him,” Anti said, watching the scene with Marvin.

“Are you?” Marvin asked.

“Nah, watching’s more fun.” 

“Fly!” Robbie squealed before he and Blank threw paper airplanes towards Bim and Yandere. 

“Good job, you guys!” Yandere said as the planes barely traveled a foot from where Blank and Robbie where. 

“You’re going to get an eye poked out,” Edward said with a sigh and Henrik turned him away with a chuckle. 

“I should only be gone for a week,” Illinois said as he entered the room, making sure his whip was on his belt properly. 

“Last time you said that it was almost a month.” Phantom followed Illinois. “I’m coming with you this time.” 

“You can’t!” Illinois spun on his heel, voice thick with fear. “I mean...I…”

“Why not?” Phantom crossed his arms. “Something you’re not telling me?”

“I...uh…” Illinois scratched his jaw. “I don’t...I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

“What?” Phantom dropped his arms.

“Whenever someone joins me...they don’t make it and I…I don’t want to risk that happening to you.” Illinois waited to be scolded and wasn’t expecting for Phantom to grab him and pull him into a kiss. 

“Who’s this, Jackie?” Chase asked, coming up to him and Yancy with a plate of lemon squares. 

“This is Yancy.” Jackie tapped at Yancy’s arm to get his attention. “Yancy, this is Chase, or mom as we call him.” 

“Mom?” Yancy took the offered lemon square. 

“It’s complicated.” Chase chuckled. “So, what brings him here?”

“I think he’d fit right in.” Jackie took a lemon square for himself. 

“Host agrees.” Host stated, his sudden appearance making Yancy yelp and bounce away. “Host also says that Yancy will be an interesting addition to the group and there’s going to some...joy that comes it.” Host chuckled and went to Chase, whispering something to him that got Chase to perk up and smile at Jackie.

“He’s-his eyes-blood?” Yancy gestured towards his own face after Host fully left.

“It’s better not to question that.” Chase patted Yancy’s back. “Welcome to the family, Yancy.” 


End file.
